


Champion of Egypt Book 1: Duelist Kingdom

by Giratina_vibes



Series: Champion of Egypt [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:55:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28935885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giratina_vibes/pseuds/Giratina_vibes
Summary: Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.
Series: Champion of Egypt [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122275





	1. Regional Championship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

“Good evening, duel fans and our ten million viewers at home,” the announcer called out as the crowd cheered. 

Sagittarius grinned as she shuffled her deck. The Regional Championship match was about to start, and she made it to the Finals. Again. 

“Welcome to the Duel Monsters Duel Dome where tonight, the Duel Monsters Regional Championship will be decided! Of the two hundred duelists that have competed in this marathon, only two competitors remain standing. Put your cards together for Weevil Underwood, the Bug Brawler!” Sagittarius heard the door opening on the other side of the field to reveal the first competitor of the Finals. 

“And his opponent,” the announcer called as the door in front of Luna opened. “The reigning Champion of Duel Monsters, the Egyptian Queen of Cards, Sagittarius Redkeep!” 

Her ruby eyes were closed as she continuously shuffled her deck. Sagittarius found it much easier to breathe when she drowned out the noise from the audience. Going through the various strategies in her head, she placed her cards on the board and prepared to duel. Sagittarius was not actually Egyptian, but her deck was heavily inspired by Egyptian mythology. She didn’t give herself that title, either. It was a nickname given by the announcers during a random tournament, and it sorta stuck. 

Both competitors were Life hit 4000; a coin was flipped, and Sagittarius got the first move, “I summon Triamid Hunter in DEF Mode!” the defending Champion announced as the Rock-Type monster appeared. “I lay one card face-down. Turn end."

Weevil grinned as he came to a realization, _‘Sagittarius favored Trap Cards, so she probably expects me to attack that monster and fall right into that trap. But if she had a trap, then she wouldn’t have left her monster in DEF Mode because a trap would protect it if it was in ATK Mode. She must've played a useless Spell Card face down in the Trap Zone to confuse me. I'm not gonna fall for a cheap trick like that!’_ Weevil cackled and made his move, “And all I have is this weak little bug.

Sagittarius raised an eyebrow as the announcer spoke, “Weevil counters with a Basic Insect card!” 

The little thing had 500 ATK points and not enough to take out Sagittarius's Triamid Hunter, who had 1100 DEF points, but Weevil’s turn wasn’t over yet. “And I’ll upgrade it with Insect Armor with Laser Canon!” 

The Basic Insect’s ATK went up by 700 points before Weevil ordered it to attack Sagittarius's monster. The 1100 DEF points stood no chance against the 1200 ATK points, and the Triamid Hunter died. Sagittarius internally cringed at seeing her monster killed. She never could explain it, but it always rubbed her the wrong way seeing a monster fall in battle. 

“And it looks like Weevil’s got Sagittarius on the ropes!” the announcer called out. The crowd cheered, hoping for an exciting duel. 

“You usually use traps to protect your monsters,” Weevil pointed a finger at her with a smug smile. “But you put your monster in DEF Mode because you didn’t have a trap to protect it!” 

Sagittarius chuckled modestly, “Guess you got me, Weevil. I didn’t have a trap to protect my monster.” 

Weevil cackled madly, thinking he outsmarted the Champion. “Now I think I’ll get rid of that face-down card of yours! I play Mystical Space Typhoon! Your Spell Card is gone!” He packed his deck with cards to get rid of spells and traps because of how sneaky Sagittarius can be with them. And speaking of sneaky...

“You triggered my trap!” Sagittarius announced. “Judgement of Anubis!” 

Weevil’s grin was immediately wiped away, much to Sagittarius's satisfaction, “B-but I thought you said you didn’t have a Trap Card!” 

“I said I don’t have a Trap Card to protect my monsters," Sagittarius replied. “Judgement of Anubis activates when you target one of my Spell or Trap Cards. The effect is negated. Now, I discard one card from my hand and target one monster on your side of the field," Sagittarius put her Pharaoh’s Servant in her Graveyard. “Not only is your monster killed, but your Life takes damage equal to that monster’s ATK points.” 

“No!” Weevil cried. “My Basic Insect!” The Bug Brawler took a 1200 Life loss as well when his monster was killed.

“You may have figured out I didn’t protect my monster,” Sagittarius smirked. “But what you didn’t take into account was my monster’s Special Ability.”

Weevil gritted his teeth in frustration. 

“If a Triamid monster dies, I can Special Summon Triamid Sphinx from my hand!” Sagittarius called triumphantly as the monster appeared on the battlefield. She boasted an ATK strength of 2500 and displayed her power proudly with a mighty roar and a flare of her multi-colored wings. 

Weevil almost shrieked at the sight of the Champion’s signature monster. 

“Now, it’s my turn!” Sagittarius announced. “I draw!” Her hand now held three monsters and a Spell Card. However, she only needed one more monster on the field to end this duel. “I summon Triamid Master in ATK Mode! You have no monsters to protect you, so now, attack his Life directly!” 

The Rock-Type monster nodded in reply and charged. In the split second it took the monster to charge and attack its target, Sagittarius reminded herself that there was something odd about these cards sometimes. It was always something lingering in the back of her mind. The way the Triamid Master responded to her command and attacked with no hesitation gave Sagittarius the crazy idea that these monsters were somehow sentient. But she doesn’t dare tell anyone about it for fear of people calling her crazy and idiotic for thinking about a simple card game like that. She was brought back to the battle when she heard the crowd cheering and Weevil’s Life go down to 1000. 

“My turn’s not done! Triamid Sphinx, kill him! Plasma Bolt!” 

The monster roared and charged her attack. Blue electricity crackled and danced over the beast’s head before the stream of energy cascaded towards Weevil. The boy covered his eyes as the attack took 2500 points and destroyed the last 1400 left. 

“This match is over,” Sagittarius announced as the crowd cheered and Weevil’s Life hit zero. 

“Unreal!” the announcer called. “The Champion defeated the challenger without losing a single Life Point!” 

The platforms lowered, and Sagittarius took her cards from the field, Graveyard, and her hand and shuffled them back into her deck. Someone pointed out that nervous tick of hers, but she really didn’t care enough to fix it. 

“And now, a very special honor to our reigning Champion,” the announcer spoke up. “Here to present the Duel Monsters Championship Trophy, the creator of Duel Monsters and President of Industrial Illusions. Ladies and gentlemen and fellow duelists, I give you Maximillion Pegasus!” 

On cue, the floor in front of Sagittarius's platform opened and revealed the man in question, holding the shining trophy in his hands. Sagittarius stepped off the platform and put her deck in the holster on her hip to greet him. This was the usual for her; however, Pegasus himself never presented the prize personally in the Regional Championships before. Sagittarius wondered what was different about this time. 

“Congratulations,” he said as he handed Sagittarius the trophy. She tried not to cringe. Something about the way he spoke made it sound like ooze crawling in her ears. It was an underlying tone of condescendence that grated on Luna’s nerves. She’s met quite a few duelists who have that aura, but none were as uncomfortable as Pegasus. Nonetheless, she accepted the trophy with gratitude. 

“And as reigning Champion, I invite you to compete in a bold new tournament I’m hosting at Duelist Kingdom!” 

The crowd somehow achieved the impossible and cheered even louder. So this is why Pegasus handed out the trophy personally this year. Sagittarius could feel the peer pressure from the public. She inwardly snickered. Well played, crazy man. Not that she was wouldn’t have agreed to compete anyway. 

The Egyptian Queen of Cards tucked the trophy under her arm and shook Pegasus’s hand, “I’ll be there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ps: the confusion in capitalization is gonna kill me  
> pps: ive never played yu-gi-oh so if i get some cards and rules wrong then sorry i guess  
> ppps: im still writing "Lion that Devoured the Sun" but i fell into a few other fandoms and cant claw my way out, so imma post new stories and randomly update whenever i get the chance because thats what you do on this site i think  
> pppps: i think i need a beta or somethin cuz i keep havin to edit this


	2. New Friends and Old Enemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

Sagittarius scratched her cheek nervously. There were a lot of people that she recognized as the top competitors from the Regional Championships. Even though she was one of those top competitors, she should’ve known she’d stick out like a sore thumb. Kids were pointing and whispering when they caught sight of her. Admittedly, it’s something that she should’ve gotten used to by now. 

As she stood in line, Sagittarius took notice that the guys in suits were checking the star chips at the base of the bridge. The Champion shrugged her bag off before digging around for her dueling gauntlet and invitation cards. After everything was checked, she swung her bag around to her back. It would be a bit embarrassing if the Champion was kicked off for forgetting the invitation. 

“Hey, you!” a shout thrust Sagittarius back to reality. “Stop right there! Only official contestants are allowed onboard!” 

“How do ya know I’m not official?!” a blonde teenager spat out as he continued to struggle. 

“Because the official duelists aren’t trying to sneak onboard through the lower hatches!” a suit retorted. 

Sagittarius snorted. She always did appreciate sass. She watched as a kid with tri-colored hair ran from the line and defended the teenager. The blonde teen was eventually allowed onboard because the kid with the crazy hair gave him one of his star chips. 

Sagittarius smiled. That was nice of him. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------

The actual ship itself was nice. Even the common area for all the duelists to mingle was decorated. Because she was the Champion, Sagittarius was given special accommodations, but she honestly couldn’t care less. She came here to duel, not stay in a fancy hotel. However, some people were here for a fancy hotel. The same kid who tried to sneak onto the ship was causing problems. He demanded better housing, and the guards did not want to put up with bullshit. Quite honestly, neither did Sagittarius. She sat down and got the attention of two kids, who were having a friendly duel. “Mind if I sit here?” 

The two boys nearly jumped when they saw who was sitting there. One finally managed to stutter something out, “U-uh… no? I-I mean... uh, sure, yeah. Yeah, you can sit here.” 

Sagittarius ignored the stutter, “Great. Y’all havin’ fun?” 

“Oh, uh, yeah,” the other of the two said. 

“I’m Sagittarius, by the way,” she knew she didn’t need to introduce herself based on their reactions, but Sagittarius wanted to ignore her Champion status. She wanted to be a competitor here like everybody else. A few turns of awkward glancing later, and the kid who introduced himself as Paul spoke up nervously, “Are you gonna be helping?” 

“Nah,” Sagittarius grinned toothily. “Nobody likes a backseat duelist. “This is your duel, not mine.” 

The two kids smiled and eagerly got back to the duel. While they occasionally glanced at Sagittarius, but they weren’t looking at her like they were expecting any approval or disappointment anymore. Eventually, the duel came to a close with Paul as the winner. 

The other kid, Barry groaned as he dropped his hand of cards, “Aw man, lost again.” 

“Again?” Sagittarius raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah,” Barry mumbled. “Paul’s my older brother. We duel together all the time, but I’m never able to beat him.” 

Sagittarius hummed in thought before asking Barry for a look at his deck. He blinked and pondered for a bit before handing the cards to her. Sagittarius skimmed through them. The cards in his deck did support each other quite well, but she didn’t see any of those combos in the duel against Paul. Maybe that was the problem. 

“You have a strong deck,” the Champion started but abruptly stopped when she realized she had the attention of everyone within a five-foot radius. She scratched her cheek before awkwardly continuing. She didn’t really want there to be an audience. “But it looks like the problem is you couldn’t draw a good hand.”

Barry drooped a little. 

“Here,” Sagittarius took out her deck of spare cards and handed one to Barry, “A personal favorite of mine.” 

The kid took the card and read the name, “Card Destruction?” 

“Not only does it make you draw a new hand, but it makes your opponent discard their cards, too,” Sagittarius explained. “It can really help if you don’t have any good cards or if your opponent is about to set up a combo.” 

Barry’s face immediately lit up, “Thanks so much, Sagittarius!” 

The Champion chuckled sheepishly at the attention again. 

“Ya wanna trade?!” a heavy and loud Brooklyn accent boomed in Sagittarius' ear. She shook her head to clear the ringing before throwing the culprit an icy look. But before she could say anything, the kid was gone and pestering somebody else. 

Sagittarius felt her eye twitch, “Someone’s hyper.” 

She looked around to see the blonde teen hopping from group to group, demanding a trade. After rolling her eyes, Sagittarius scanned the room, and her gaze landed on Weevil talking to that kid with the crazy hair before slinking off like a cockroach. She narrowed her eyes and stood up. Sagittarius didn’t want to act like a stalker, but something about Weevil really rubbed her the wrong way. 

“Could I possibly see those legendary cards?” Weevil asked with barely contained excitement. 

Sagittarius almost rolled her eyes. There was no way this kid was going to give a rat like Weevil his most powerful cards-

“I don’t see why not,” said kid replied with a friendly smile. “Just be careful with them, okay?” 

Sagittarius almost slammed her palm into her forehead. She rounded the corner she was hiding behind just in time to see the little bug brat throw Exodia off the boat. Her jaw dropped. Sure, she knew Weevil was untrustworthy, but throwing someone’s most powerful cards away was just low. 

The kid with the crazy hair shouted in despair and disbelief as his cards fell into the sea, “Those were the Exodia cards that my grandpa gave me!” 

Sagittarius felt her blood boil. Not only were they powerful cards, but it seemed that this kid had a personal attachment to them, as well. She felt a growl erupt in her throat as a thought crossed her mind, ‘Weevil is a dead man.’ 

“I’ll get ‘em!” the blonde teenager shouted and jumped off the boat. 

“Joey don’t!” 

Sagittarius gaped as she the teen jump off the boat. Forgetting about Weevil, she ran to the railing to see a tuft of blonde hair weaving through the waves to get the cards. What the hell was he thinking?! 

The other kid seemed to have the same thoughts, it seemed, because he tried to jump after the teen a few seconds later. Sagittarius reacted and managed to grab the kid’s legs right as he jumped off the ship. His weight yanked her down, and she shrieked when she felt her right shoulder pop out of place. 

The kid gasped in surprise and looked up to see who caught him. Sagittarius hissed as she struggled to pull him up. Luckily, the kid didn’t want to be a deadweight and helped pull himself up using the railing of the ship. As soon as he was up, Sagittarius glanced at the teen, Joey was his name, and saw a wave push him underwater. Ice flooded her veins, and she turned to the kid she just saved. 

“Get help!” Sagittarius hissed before diving off the ship, herself. The Champion's shoulder screamed at her, causing her to curse herself for jumping in the water without fixing the arm. Nevertheless, she kept swimming; she couldn’t do anything about it now. 

She pushed forward with her head underwater to hopefully find Joey before he was buried under the waves. But it was hopelessly dark, and Sagittarius couldn’t see a thing. She came up for air and turned to see the boat getting further and further away. Sagittarius growled under her breath and dove underwater again. She swam deeper underwater, hoping to find the teen before he drowned. Finally, she caught a glimpse of green and white clothing. Quickly diving down, she grabbed a fistful of the bright jacket with her good arm and began swimming for the surface. However, her legs could only carry so much, and her right arm as well as the teen were deadweights. Sagittarius brought the jacket up to her jaws and kept swimming. Finally, she reached the surface and caught a lungful of air. Not wasting nay time, she began swimming towards the departing ship. 

“Hey!” a voice called out, making the conscious duelist look up. There were two teenagers were there and holding a rope ladder over the side of the boat. “Grab ahold!” the girl shouted. “Hurry!” 

Sagittarius grunted and began swimming again. Eventually, she found the ladder and grabbed it. The Champion threw Joey’s arm over her shoulder, held onto the fabric with her teeth, prayed to the gods that the jacket wouldn’t tear, and started climbing. 

After a few minutes, Sagittarius made it up the ladder high enough for the two teens to grab Joey off her shoulders and pull him onto the boat. Sagittarius pulled herself up, and those two teens then helped her onto the ship, too. The Champion panted in exhaustion as water dripped from her body. She shook herself like a dog and heard the girl shriek as water went everywhere. Sagittarius only offered an apologetic look before turning to see if Joey was alright. The teen in question coughed a few more times before opening his eyes and looking around in confusion. 

“That was reckless,” words came out of the Queen of Cards' mouth in a snarl before she had a chance to think. “What the hell were you thinking, jumping off the side of the boat like that?” 

Before he could respond, another voice called out, “Joey! Sagittarius!” 

Hearing their names, the two teenagers looked over to see a head of tri-colored hair running towards them. 

“Are you guys okay?” he immediately asked as soon as he was close enough. 

“I’m sorry, Yugi,” Joey said. 

Sagittarius raised an eyebrow. Yugi. Why did that name sound familiar. 

“I failed.” Joey continued. “I only got two of ya cards.” 

“It’s okay, Joey,” Yugi replied. 

“No, it’s not okay. It’s always dis way wit me. I’m never able to help anybody. Not even my own sister, Serenity.” 

“Serenity?” Yugi echoed. 

“Really?” the girl asked. “You have a sister, Joey?” 

The Champion was tempted to leave. This was a personal issue that she had no business hearing about. But if she got up and moved, it would put all the attention back on her. So, she stayed and heard of how the two siblings were separated by a parents’ divorce and how Serenity is going blind. Joey wanted to enter the tournament so he could win the prize money to save his sister. Sagittarius silently sighed and closed her eyes. It was a noble goal, and she felt bad for misjudging him earlier. Unfortunately, that seemed to have caught the others’ attention. 

“Sagittarius, thank you so much for saving Joey,” Yugi said. 

“Don’t mention it,” the Champion shrugged, or at least tried to. She just remembered her shoulder was dislocated. She brought her left hand up to her shoulder to feel out the damage. 

“Uh, hey,” the teen with the brown hair spoke up. “You okay?” 

“Yeah,” Sagittarius grunted out. “The shoulder’s just dislocated.” 

Joey winced as he thought Sagittarius got hurt because of him. That’s probably why she was so angry at her. However, that reaction did not go unnoticed by the other teenager. “Don’t worry about it, Joey. It’s an easy fix.” Sagittarius braced herself and shoved the bones back into its socket with an angry crunch. 

The other teens cringed as the Champion hissed in pain. “Welp,” she stood up and stretched. “Guess I’ll see you guys on the island. And make sure you change your clothes before you catch hypothermia.”


	3. First Challenger

Sagittarius flicked the light switch before jumping into the makeshift hammock in the corner of her room. Even though she was given an entire hotel room with a closet, a minifridge, and a queen-sized bed, she only occupied about ten square feet of the area. She had changed out of her clothes and hung them up on the ceiling to dry overnight and now wore an oversized shirt and lounge pants. She didn’t think she would need a change of clothes, but she had extra room in her bag and thought better safe than sorry. 

With that thought, Sagittarius closed her eyes and tried drifting off to sleep. The hammock occasionally swung slightly from the waves, but other than that, it was a pretty peaceful atmosphere. That is, until a knock got the Champion's attention. She jumped down from the hammock and stretched her shoulders before walking to the door. She opened it but had to squint from the sudden light and saw a blonde woman in her twenties outside. 

“Can I help you?” Sagittarius' voice was almost a grumble as she leaned on the door. 

“Yes,” the woman spoke in a smug tone. “My name is Mai Valentine, and you can help by clearing out and giving me this room of yours.” 

The Queen of Cards almost threw a punch right then and there, but she decided to be polite, “You don’t have to get me to clear out, I wasn’t really using this room anyway. You can chill here ‘til we get to Duelist Kingdom.” 

The woman blinked in surprise, “What’s the catch?” 

“No catch, I’m literally just sleeping in the corner of the room tonight.” 

“I’m not sharing a room with some smelly guy,” Mai snapped. 

Sagittarius twitched; she was quickly losing patience. She probably smelled like salt water, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t exactly smell herself because of that jumping into the sea stunt from a few hours ago. And did Mai just call her a guy? Guess with her long black hair not brushed out and pulled into a loose ponytail like usual, Sagittarius probably looked like a dude. “Goodnight,” she snapped as she closed the door. 

“Not so fast,” the irritating woman put her foot next to the frame so the door couldn’t close, “You and I are going to have a duel. Loser has to clear out.”

Sagittarius sighed and got out her deck, “Y'know what, I change my mind. I'll kill you. I tried being nice.” 

“If you were so nice, you would give your room to a lady who needs it,” Mai scoffed as she sat down at the table near the bed. The Champion could tell by the slightest hesitation that Mai didn't expect such a bold declaration of murder from the other duelist. It's what she gets for being rude.

“I’ll go first,” Sagittarius drew a card and began the game, “I summon Pharaoh’s Servant in DEF Mode. Turn end.” 

Mai nearly laughed. “Is that the best you got? That monster has only 900 ATK points. Guess you had no choice but to put it in DEF Mode.” 

“Well, if you have a better play, then let’s see it,” Sagittarius crossed her arms. Mai smirked and closed her eyes. 

The Champion raised an eyebrow, “What are you doing?” 

“Divining my card,” the woman answered. “I have to mystically choose which one of them is the best.” 

Sagittarius audibly rolled her eyes. That was bullshit and both of them knew it. Nevertheless, Mai managed to predict which card she was going to play without looking at it, “I summon Harpie Lady.” Mai ordered an attack, and the Champion's Zombie-Type monster was killed. “I heard only top-ranked duelists got their own room, but based on how you’re playing, I can’t see why you’re here.” 

“It’s only been one turn, Mai,” Sagittarius reminded. 

“That doesn’t matter,” she shrugged off the Champion’s retort. “If that weak Zombie card is the best in your hand, then I won’t have any trouble with winning.”

Sagittarius drew a card, “I summon Pharaonic Protector in DEF Mode and lay one card face-down and end my turn.” 

Sagittarius refused to fall for her cheap trick. She didn’t know how, but Mai could tell what cards she plays without looking at them. It was probably a tactic to freak people out, but the Champion didn’t become the Champion without facing her fair share of psych out battles. She’s just going to have to keep playing by ignoring the trick as if Mai was actually looking at her cards. 

“I play Elegant Egotist!” Mai announced. Sagittarius twitched; okay that may be a problem. 

“Its magic will make duplicates on my Harpie Lady. My one Harpie Lady multiplies into three! I can’t attack this turn, but since you can only summon one more monster on your turn, my third Harpie Lady will be able to attack your Life Points directly.” 

The Champion was unfazed with her threat. She drew a card, “Turn end.” 

The woman, however, was fazed by her opponent’s play. Sagittarius had only one monster and one face down card on the field. Either her opponent had a damn good Trap Card, or she was bluffing. Mai was not stupid, she knew that only the best duelists got their own room, so she had to tread cautiously. Mai didn’t know who this person was, but it looked like she specializes in Zombie cards. There must be some kind of Magic Card that brings Zombie monsters back from the grave. That has to be why Sagittarius was playing weak monsters right now. That Spell Card must be a set up for something that can only activate when a Zombie is sent to the Graveyard. 

It might recall zombies, so Sagittarius can defend herself with a monster if she is about to take an attack. Since there is only one monster in her Graveyard, Sagittarius can use it to summon that monster to protect her Life when Harpie Lady attacks, so Mai is going to have to make her use that card and discard it before her opponent can deposit an army of Zombie monsters in her Graveyard. Mai used one Harpie Lady to kill Pharaonic Protector. With no monsters to protect her, the other two Harpie Ladies made a direct attack on Sagittarius' Life. 

“I activate my Trap Card,” the Champion flipped a card face up. “Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. I target an attacking monster on your side of the field and negate the attack.” 

“My third Harpie Lady will still attack your Life Points!” Mai declared. 

Sagittarius didn’t even flinch when she lost 1300 points of her Life, “You activated my monster’s Special Ability.” 

“Wait, but Pharaonic Protector doesn’t have a Special Ability,” Mai protested. 

“I’m not talking about that,” Sagittarius replied. “When I take damage, I Special Summon Guardian Slime from my hand.” The creature was a level ten monster but had zero ATK and DEF points. Mai narrowed her eyes; that thing must have a lethal ability to get it that many stars. 

“Now, it’s my turn,” the Champion said as she drew a card. “I lay one card face-down and activate Card Destruction. Both players have to discard all their cards and replenish their hand with the same number of cards.” 

“Wait what?!” Mai shrieked. She had Cyber Shield and Rose Whip in her hand. She never equipped them because Sagittarius kept playing weak monsters, so now she doesn’t have any Spell Cards in her hand to power up her Harpies if Sagittarius sent out stronger monsters. 

_‘Not so confident now,’_ Sagittarius smirked as she drew a new hand of four cards. “Now I activate that face down card, First Sarcophagus. In two more turns, I summon a monster from my deck that has 2500 ATK points, so you better hurry up if you want to win, Mai.” 

The woman gritted her teeth as her opponent continued her play, “Now I place two cards face-down. Turn end.” 

Mai checked the new cards she had to draw because of Card Destruction. She didn’t give up on her aroma strategy and continued to play cards without looking at them. Her opponent may not be shaken up now, but there’s a chance that can change. Mai smirked at what card she found. Harpie’s Feather Duster. She may not be able to power up her Harpies anymore, but she can stop whatever it is that Sagittarius' planning with those face down cards. Sagittarius had only one monster and four cards in the Trap Zone, including her First Sarcophagus. Not only would Mai destroy and stop that face up card, but she would leave her only monster completely defenseless. 

“I play Harpie’s Feather Duster,” the woman announced triumphantly. “Your Sarcophagus, as well as whatever Trap Cards you’re hiding, get destroyed.” 

“Not if I activate my trap, Judgement of Anubis,” the Champion countered. By the gods, she loved that card. “I negate and destroy your Feather Duster along with an enemy monster of my choosing. That monster is killed, and you take damage equal to its ATK points.” 

Mai gasped when she lost one of her monsters as well as 1300 Life. They were tied now, but the challenger was planning of changing that. She ordered one of her Harpies to attack Sagittarius' only monster on the field. 

“Guardian Slime’s Special Ability activates,” Sagittarius countered. “When it is attacked, its DEF points raise to equal the opposing monster’s ATK points, canceling out the attack.” 

“Then I attack with my second Harpie Lady!” 

“I activate my trap card, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow,” Sagittarius once again blocked Mai’s attack. 

“But you already used that card!” Mai protested. 

“After Scrap-Iron Scarecrow is played, I put it face-down instead of sending it to the Graveyard,” the Champion replied. She was getting bored. She did have to think through her strategies like usual, but it seemed like Mai wasn’t putting up any kind of a fight. Just like Weevil, this challenger continuously fell into trap after trap that Sagittarius laid out. Where was the thrill of a real challenge, the kind of challenge that would completely overturn whatever strategy she had put into play? 

There were some opponents who could lay down a single card and destroy her plan and make her rethink her attack. While it was frustrating, the Queen of Cards enjoyed every second of it. It forced her to think quickly and come up with a new plan with a new hand of cards. Outsmarting your opponent is the goal of the game, so where was the game if Sagittarius doesn’t face anyone who can outsmart her? 

“Now, it’s my move,” the Champion drew a card. “And your Harpies are wide open to attack. But first, I place Second Sarcophagus on the field. When I play the third, I summon a monster with 2500 ATK points. But for now, I play the Plague Wolf in ATK Mode, and thanks to its Special Ability, I can double its ATK points to 2000.”

Plague Wolf clashed with one of Mai’s monsters, and the result lost Sagittarius' opponent 700 Life. 

“My turn’s not over. I sacrifice Guardian Slime to summon Ghost Knight of Jackal.” 

The Beast-Warrior monster killed the last Harpie Lady and took 400 more Life. 

“Thanks to Ghost Knight of Jackal’s Special Ability, I can Special Summon the monster he just killed to my side of the field in DEF Mode.” 

Mai growled under her breath and threw her cards down on the table. Sagittarius raised an eyebrow; this isn’t poker. Why is she folding? She still has 1600 Life left. 

“I give up. I don’t have any more monsters to play,” the blonde woman said. 

The Champion nearly spluttered. She only had one monster in her entire deck? How the hell did she get invited to Duelist Kingdom if she was forced to surrender every time her single monster was defeated? And she wasn’t even required to surrender, anyway. Rules say you have to surrender if you have no more cards to play, not just monster cards. Whatever. Mai was forfeiting, so Sagittarius won. The Champion yawned, “What a shame, and here I was planning the next seven moves in advance.” 

Mai openly gaped at her as she collected her cards and jumped back into the hammock that was hanging from the ceiling. Sagittarius offered her opponent a quick “Goodnight” before requesting that she close the door and hit the light on the way out. To her immense surprise, Mai huffed and left the room without doing either of those things. 

Sagittarius groaned before she dragged herself out of her nest again. She walked over to the door and saw Mai enter another room. ‘Was that Rex Raptor?’ Sagittarius thought groggily. She shrugged and slammed the door closed before hopping back into the hammock again. She closed her eyes and attempted to get a few hours of sleep, but something was keeping her awake. Or someone. The thought made the hair on Sagittarius' arms stand on end. However, the thought of someone watching her didn't creep her out. The presence was familiar, but that only served to confuse her even more. Usually, when someone has the feeling they're being watched (especially in their sleep), it unnerves and even alarms them. But Sagittarius was not intimidated. If anything, she felt more relaxed. The constant conflicting feelings frustrated her, but what was even more frustrating was the fact that this presence also kept her awake and alert. 

Sagittarius didn't sleep that night.


	4. Duelist Kingdom Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

Sagittarius shook her clothes one last time before changing into them. Her usual outfit consisted of a turtleneck black tank top, tactical cargo pants, leather combat boots, and fingerless gloves that ran up to her biceps. She also had a brown utility belt that had her deck holder as well as small tools like a flashlight, first aid kit, matches, and a compass. Ever since she got the title “Egyptian Queen of Cards,” Sagittarius added a gold Egyptian scarab pendant with blue and green colored wings stretching out across her collar bone, a match of the amulet that her Triamid Sphinx wore. It was fake, of course. Sagittarius couldn’t afford actual golden jewelry. 

After checking and throwing on her backpack, the Champion left the room to head for the exit. She brushed her black hair out to tie it into a ponytail. Her hair went just below her shoulders and had a single stripe of gold running down her head from the left side of her scalp. That lone stripe always stood out to her, and when she asked her parents about it, they said she was just born with it. 

Once the duelists exited the ship, they were immediately escorted to the castle, where Pegasus gave his speech. Once again, duelists were pointing and whispering about the top competitors from the recent tournament. When the subject of Seto was brought into the conversation, Sagittarius immediately perked up. 

He didn’t show up at the Regionals, and he didn’t show up for Duelist Kingdom either. That was beyond unusual. Sagittarius and Seto always competed in the Regionals together. Even though he never beat her, he was the only person to actually give the Champion a fun duel. Practically the main event of the Regionals was the duel between the Blue-Eyes and the Queen of Cards. Even though Seto never bet her, the two were close friends. Well, “close friends” was a bit of an exaggeration because Seto’s an arrogant asshole who Sagittarius simply tolerates to be around her. But the two had respect for each other’s dueling skills. 

When Sagittarius heard that Seto had dropped out of the tournament, she was shocked. She almost dropped out, herself, but the ideas of someone taking her title without a fight and Seto most likely being busy with his company kept her in the competition. The Champion thought she would be seeing him at Duelist Kingdom, but he’s still not here. She wondered why until she overheard a kid say that Seto was beaten on his own turf by a kid named Yugi Muto. Sagittarius grinned; that’s why his name sounded so familiar. 

Once the speech was over, the duelists were left to prepare and find their own turf. Sagittarius rolled her eyes at the declarations Pegasus made. He made new rules and wasn’t going to tell the competitors what they were. That was beyond stupid. What if someone did an illegal play but didn’t know it was illegal? Would they get kicked off the island immediately? Knowing Pegasus, probably. 

The Queen of Cards wanted to seek out Weevil. While it was cowardly and highly disrespectful to throw away someone’s cards, it was not illegal, and that means the bug brat is still in the competition. Sagittarius wanted to personally assassinate him. However, she knew someone else had a score to settle. She didn’t know what compelled her to follow the group of teenagers she ran into yesterday, but she still tailed them as they walked into the meadows. Maybe because they also had a score to settle with Weevil. 

“Yugi, I dunno if I can win dis thin’,” Joey spoke up. “Maybe it be best for ya to take ya star chip back.” 

“Nah, you keep it,” Yugi replied. “Your little sister’s counting on you to win the prize money for her.” 

Joey thanked him before the other two gave words of encouragement. “Well Yugi, between your grandpa and my sister, we don’t have any room for mistakes.” 

“Point,” Sagittarius remarked as she made herself known. 

“Sagittarius?” Yugi turned around. “What are you doing here?” 

“I’ve been here the whole time,” the Champion sassed. They were prevented from chatting anymore because fireworks were coloring the sky. The Duelist Kingdom Tournament had begun. 

“So, what’s ya plan, Yugi?” Joey asked. 

“Well, I might as well stick with Weevil,” he replied. “After all, we do have a score to settle.” 

“Now that’s something I’ve got to see,” Sagittarius grinned. Upon seeing their look of confusion, the Champion elaborated. “I was planning of killing Weevil myself, but it would probably be best for you to do it since he trashed your cards.” 

“Isn’t that him?” the girl asked. Sure enough, the Regionals’ runner up was at the top of the hill, cackling like a madman as he ran into the forest. As the group ran after Weevil, bugs appeared and began chasing them. The girl complained about the moths, but Sagittarius couldn’t care less. The brunette complained about Weevil’s speed, but they kept running. 

“What’s Weevil up to?” Yugi thought aloud to himself. “He’s wanted to duel me ever since we met on the boat, so what’s he running from?” 

“You sure he’s running away from something or towards something?” the Champion asked rhetorically. 

Yugi’s eyes widened before he hummed in thought, ‘What was it that Weevil said on the boat?’ 

Finally, Weevil stopped running so the group confront him. “Welcome, said the spider to the fly. You flew right into my trap!” 

“It’s time you answered for what you did on the boat, Weevil!” Yugi declared. The pendant around his neck glowed, and Sagittarius noticed a startling change. 

Yugi scoffed, “Alright, Weevil. It’s time to see if you are as good at dueling as you are at running away.” 

The Champion blinked. What the hell was that? Whoever this was, it was no longer the same Yugi she met on the boat. He somehow grew taller, his voice was deeper, and his features were sharper and more determined. Not only did he look different, but his aura changed, as well. No longer a naïve boy, Yugi now stood as a warrior brimming with confidence whose character almost encouraged Sagittarius to stand beside. She decided to experiment and stood beside the one called ‘Yugi’ just as her gut told her. The feeling of standing beside a powerful leader was an old friend who Sagittarius had forgotten. There was a sense of security but also a thrill for the upcoming challenge. 

The Champion once again asked herself if she had met him someone before. 

“Dishonor never gets anyone very far, especially in Duel Monsters, Weevil, and you’re about to learn why,” Sagittarius challenged. 

“I have no interest in dueling you,” Weevil sneered. 

“Coward,” the Queen of Cards growled. “You know you can’t beat me, and you know you can’t beat Exodia. So you refuse to battle either. You’re nothing but a coward, and you know it.” 

“Shut up!” Weevil retorted. “Call me a coward all you like, but you’ll be eating your words when I exterminate the duelist who beat Kaiba!” 

Sagittarius seemed to understand a little more of Weevil’s thought process. He seemed to think that beating Yugi is going to prove that he’s in the same league as the Champion. The only other person who can challenge her skill is Kaiba, and Yugi defeated him. 

“It’s time to duel!” ‘Yugi’ declared with a grin on his face. 

“As you wish!” Weevil called out as the ground shook. 

“What have you done?” ‘Yugi’ demanded. 

“Whoa, the entire floor is transforming!” the brunette in the group gasped and watched as a giant platform emerged from the ground. Sagittarius nearly rolled her eyes. She needed to get the names of the other two. 

“You’ve just stepped into a hornet’s nest, Yugi,” Weevil said with a smirk. “and there’s no way out!” 

Sagittarius did roll her eyes that time. There were going to be a lot of bug puns in this duel. 

“What is that?” ‘Yugi’ asked. 

“Hey now, arena’s like these must be all over the island!” Joey gasped. 

“I’ll meet you on the field,” Weevil said as he hopped onto the platform on the red side. ‘Yugi’ walked over the blue side, but not before Sagittarius called out to him. “Oi, Yugi,” she got his attention. She held out a hand for a handshake. The other competitor blinked in conclusion before accepting. 

The Queen of Cards gave a smirk, “Kick him off the island.” 

‘Yugi’ nodded, eyes full of determination. As she walked off, ‘Yugi’ felt a small weight in his hand. He checked to see what it was, and his eyes widened. He looked over to Sagittarius again to see that her smirk had morphed into a feral grin. ‘Yugi’ returned it with a smirk of his own. 

“You only have one star chip, correct?” Weevil cackled. “Then I’ll have the pleasure of eliminating you from the tournament.” 

“Not if I take your two star chips first,” Yugi stated. He held up his gauntlet, which held two chips instead of one. 

“Wh- but how?” Weevil gasped. The other were also confused. ‘Yugi’ glanced down at Sagittarius, who gave him a thumbs up with the hand that held her dueling gauntlet, revealing that she only had one star chip now. 

“You gave him your star chip to gamble away?” the girl in the group asked Sagittarius. 

The Champion grinned and nodded, “Like I said, I want Weevil dead, but Yugi should be the one to do it.” 

“This will be an all or nothing battle for the both of us,” ‘Yugi’ challenged. 

“Fine with me,” Weevil responded. Other competitors began to gather when they saw who was dueling. 

“That’s Weevil Underwood,” one kid pointed out. “He was runner up at the Regionals, but who’s that other guy?” 

“That guy is Yugi Muto. He beat Kaiba,” Joey puffed his chest out. “And I happen to be his best friend, Joey Wheeler. And these two are trespassers.” 

Sagittarius snorted. She was hoping to finally get the names of the other two teenagers in Yugi’s group, but it looks they’ve been downgraded to trespassers. Ah, what the hell, might as well ask now. “By the way,” the Champion got their attention while the audience chatted around them. “I don’t believe we’ve formally introduced themselves yet. I’m Sagittarius Redkeep.” 

“Oh yeah,” Joey mumbled when he realized they never told each other their names. He jabbed a thumb into his chest with a confident grin, “The name’s Joey Wheeler, duelist extraordinaire!” 

“My name’s Tristan Taylor.” 

“I’m Tea Gardner,"

"Nice to officially meet you," Sagittarius smiled in reply. 

“Duel!” Weevil and ‘Yugi’ declared simultaneously.


	5. Yugi vs Weevil Pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

Both their Life hit 4000, and Weevil summoned his first monster, “Let’s see how you like my Killer Needle.” 

“You’ll have to get through my Mammoth Graveyard first,” ‘Yugi’ responded. “This massive monster will match your annoying insect point for point.” 

Sagittarius narrowed her eyes when she saw that both creatures had an ATK of 1200, but it suddenly jumped to 1560. She quickly did the math and realized that both monsters got a thirty percent power boost. She tucked away that bit of information for later. If she wanted the home field advantage in this tournament, she’s going to have to hang out near cliffsides for her Rock-Type monsters and dark caves for her Zombie-Type monsters. But where’s the fun in that? 

Both duelists ordered their monsters to attack, and it ended in a stalemate. Both Killer Needle and Mammoth Graveyard were killed. 

‘Yugi’ didn’t seem all that surprised, but Weevil reeled back, “Wh- but how?! I have the advantage here!” 

The Bug Brawler’s opponent chuckled humorlessly, “Looks like my Mammoth Graveyard got a field power bonus from the wasteland area just as your Killer Needle got a field power bonus from the forest!” 

“The field point advantage was supposed to be mine alone!” Weevil ground out. 

Joey blinked, “Field power bonus?” 

Sagittarius crossed her arms, “Check the arena. It’s a mirror of the surrounding environment.” 

“I kept wondering something on the boat ride here, Weevil,” ‘Yugi’ began to explain. “Why were we traveling to some remote island just to duel? But as soon as I saw this holographic display grid, it all came together. Every monster has a type of field that it does best on, kind of like a home field advantage. And what makes this island so special is that it contains every type of field imaginable. So when you deliberately led us to this spot, you were hoping to get some kind of field advantage.”

Weevil laughed wildly, “You’re awfully clever to figure it out like that, Yugi. But figuring one rule won’t be enough. There are surprises hidden under every rock, and I know them all.” 

Knowledge is power; that’s something Sagittarius agreed upon. But in one move, the Champion learned that ‘Yugi’ is very clever and can think on his feet. She doesn’t have any reason to worry. 

“You can beat him, Yugi!” Tea shouted. 

“Don’t let that flea scare ya, Yugi,” Joey called out words of encouragement. “He’s bluffin’.” 

“Really…” Weevil droned out as he played his next monster. “Then let’s see how you like this bluff. My Hercules Beetle will find a way to crawl under your skin.” The large Insect-Monster’s 1500 ATK points went up to 1950 because of the field power bonus. Weevil then played a card face down and ended his turn. 

“Even four-eyes’ weakest bugs are gonna be tough ta beat so long as he’s got that field power bonus,” Joey clenched his fist. 

“Yeah, but it’s exactly like it can be turned off,” Tristan added. 

“Says who?” Sagittarius cut in. 

“Say what?” Joey looked at her as if she grew a second head. 

“Who says the field power bonus can’t be turned off?” Sagittarius repeated with a smirk. 

“Uh, I did,” Tristan pointed at himself with a raised eyebrow. 

“You sayin’ that this stupid field can be switched off like a freakin’ light switch?” Joey retorted. 

“I’m saying, if the tide isn’t in your favor, then turn it in your favor,” the Champion crossed her arms and kept her eyes on the duel. 

The other three teenagers just stood there, dumbfounded. ‘Yugi’, however, took his eyes off the match to glance at Sagittarius. It was obvious she was trying to tell him something, and his mind ran a mile a minute to try deciphering what she meant. Turn the tide in his favor? How was he supposed to do that? The tide is in Weevil’s favor because of the field. So how does one turn around an entire field? The field powers up monsters, but a field isn’t the only way to power up a monster. 

“I play Feral Imp and add this Horn of the Unicorn, so its magic will raise my ATK points!” he summoned his monster, and the Fiend-Type shrieked out a battle cry as its 1300 ATK points went up to 1900. Weevil snickered, and Sagittarius had to resist the urge to snarl. What was the little cockroach laughing about now? 

“You’ll have to do a lot better than that,” the Bug Brawler commented. 

“Feral Imp, Magic Lightning Attack!” ‘Yugi’ immediately ordered an attack, but Weevil activated a Quick-Play Spell Card, Mystical Typhoon, to destroy Horn of the Unicorn. Sagittarius raised an eyebrow; looks like bug boy still had the card he used against her in the finals. She couldn’t blame him for keeping it, however. It was a very powerful card. She added one in her deck for the Duelist Kingdom, herself.

After Horn of the Unicorn was gone, Feral Imp’s ATK went down to 1300, and was killed by Hercules Beetle’s 1950 ATK points, costing ‘Yugi’ 650 of his Life. With no monsters to protect his opponent, Weevil made a direct attack with Hercules Beetle. ‘Yugi’ gritted his teeth in frustration as his Life went down by 1950. Weevil still had 4000 Life, and ‘Yugi’ now had 1400. On his next turn, he Set a monster and ended his turn. 

Meanwhile, Weevil cackled when he saw ‘Yugi’ place his monster in DEF Mode. The Bug Brawler wanted to keep him on the defensive and kept building an army of Insect-Type monsters. But Sagittarius didn’t miss the face down card that ‘Yugi’ just played. She didn’t miss the trap card that Weevil played either. Guess it comes down to who outsmarts who now. 

“Just look at our Yugi,” Tea observed. “He’s so confident up there.” 

“I know,” Joey agreed. “It’s like when he’s duelin’, he becomes a totally different guy.” 

Sagittarius raised an eyebrow at that. Even Yugi’s closest friends think there’s something up with him. And the Champion definitely agrees. There are such things as severe mood swings that change a person’s personality in split seconds, but Sagittarius has never seen a change in character like Yugi Muto before. Not only does his appearance change, but his entire aura as well. 

Weevil had four Insects in ATK Mode and one in DEF Mode, and Yugi had one DEF Mode monster on the field. Weevil seemed to think he had the upper hand, but his opponent didn’t even flinch when he ordered as attack. In fact, he was laughing. ‘Yugi’s’ trap card was Mirror Force. 

“Hold your fire!” Weevil cried. 

“Too late!” ‘Yugi’ declared. “When an opponent attacks, Mirror Force negates the attack, and all monsters in ATK Mode on your side of the field are killed!”

The Regionals runner up stumbled back at seeing his army wiped out all at once. 

Yugi’s friends cheered him on, but their attention was focused elsewhere when another competitor appeared from the bushes and approached them with a haughty laugh, “Yeah right. You little losers seems to have no idea who your pal is up against. Weevil is the runner up of the Regional Championship. He’s got moves your shrimp couldn’t even dream of.” 

Tea suddenly snapped, and Sagittarius took her eyes off the match for the first time to glance at her in surprise, “Nobody asked you! So why don’t you just take a hike!” 

“And watch the chance to watch a top ranked duelist like Weevil as he finishes this kid off, no way,” the woman responded. “Weevil has all his Life Points, while your friend is down over half of his. He’s got no chance.” 

“Yugi’s going to win,” the Champion deadpanned as she continued to watch the duel with her arms crossed. 

Mai gaped, and Joey whooped, “That’s the spirit!” 

Tea huffed, “You hear that, Mai? If you’re not going to take my word for it, take the word from the person who wiped the floor with Weevil in the Championship!”

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten about that trap card of yours, Weevil!” ‘Yugi’ continued his turn. “The monster I played in DEF Mode is going to spring your trap.” He flipped his monster card face up, and it was revealed to be Kuriboh. 

Sagittarius snorted in amusement. That monster is actually pretty overpowered for the supposed weakest creature in Duel Monsters. It tracks that a card like that is in Yugi’s deck. He ordered the monster to attack, and Weevil’s trap card took 300 of ‘Yugi’s’ Life. He was battling fairly well, but ‘Yugi’ had 1100 Life, and Weevil still had 4000. If he wants to win, he has to go on the offensive sooner or later. And based on what Sagittarius thinks Weevil’s face down monster is, it had better be sooner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> field power bonus is dum


	6. Yugi vs Weevil Pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

“Traps only work if they catch you by surprise,” ‘Yugi’ mocked. “Next time, don’t give your plan away.” 

The Bug Brawler only laughed maniacally. At seeing ‘Yugi’s’ look of confusion, Weevil exclaimed, “I don’t give a bee’s behind about that stupid trap! I tricked you into triggering my trap so you couldn’t attack this!” His face-down monster was revealed to be his Larvae Moth. He was planning of using his Great Moth combo. Sagittarius was proven right a few seconds later because that puny Insect-Type monster was turned into the Cocoon of Evolution. 

Weevil declared that in five turns, he would have his Great Moth on the field, so ‘Yugi’ better hurry. He took two of those turns summoning weaker creatures to sacrifice and summon Gaia the Fierce Knight. Even with its 2300 ATK points, it was no match for the Cocoon, and Weevil only had to wait three more turns until his most powerful monster was summoned. 

‘Yugi’ summoned a monster in DEF Mode and ended his turn. 

Yugi’s friends offered words of encouragement, and Mai laughed at them again. 

“What’s so funny, Mai?” Tea demanded. 

“All that stupid cheerleading you’re doing,” the blonde woman replied. “You make it sound like your Yugi still has a chance.” 

“Of course he does,” Tea tried to growl, but Sagittarius suspected that the girl physically cannot be intimidating, even if her life depended on it. 

“Any duelist that goes up against Weevil’s Cocoon of Evolution has been totally trashed.” 

“All of them?” Tristan and Joey stuttered out. 

Sagittarius raised an eyebrow, which did not go unnoticed by Mai. She turned to the Champion and retorted, “You beat him before he had a chance to play it. And besides, not even your Triamid Sphinx can scratch the Ultimate Moth.” 

“But Yugi’s got us to help him beat it,” Tea defended. 

Mai scoffed, and Sagittarius resisted the urge to do the same. Instead, she just offered a cryptic message without turning around, “The match isn’t over until the last card is played.” 

The blond woman scoffed again, “You don’t seriously believe that kid can beat Weevil?” 

“That is what I said a few turns ago,” the Champion replied, once again, not taking her eyes off the duel. “That Cocoon is far from unbeatable.” 

The four looked at her in confusion. 

“You just gotta ask yourself what’s making it so strong? Then you can attack it at the source and cripple the foundation.” 

“What’s making it so strong?” Tristan repeated. 

“The stupid field power bonus!” Joey declared. 

“Right,” Sagittarius nodded. 

“But the Field isn’t something you can just attack!” Joey exclaimed but then immediately backtracked when he remembered what the Queen of Cards said at the start of the duel. She said the field power bonus could be 'turned off.' Is this what she meant? “Or is it?” 

Sagittarius grinned when she saw that ‘Yugi’ came to the same realization. He played the Burning Land magic card at the cost of 500 Life. His friends didn’t realize what that Spell Card did at first, the Champion observed. They were confused and in shock that Yugi would purposely take his own Life. 

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Weevil demanded. “You know your firefly can’t hurt my Cocoon!”

‘Yugi’ only smirked in reply, “Who said I was aiming for your Cocoon? I played the Burning Land Spell Card to destroy the forest all around your Cocoon!” 

“My forest!” Weevil shrieked in disbelief. “That means I lose my field power bonus!”

“Exactly,” ‘Yugi’ said, the smirk never leaving his face. “Your Cocoon was too tough to attack directly, but without its field power bonus, it’s just a big target.” 

Now that the forest was gone, Weevil’s Cocoon of Evolution lost its field power bonus, and it’s DEF dropped down to 2000. However, before he had a chance to attack, his turn was over. Next time, Gaia can attack destroy that monster before it could summon a more powerful beast. However, the Great Moth appeared from the weakened Cocoon. 

“I’m impressed you were able to weaken my Cocoon by destroying the field,” Weevil announced. “But you were unable to stop the evolution of my ultimate insect, the Great Moth!”

“But I thought it took five turns,” ‘Yugi’ thought out loud. 

“I lied,” Weevil replied. “The Cocoon of Evolution only needs four turns to summon the Great Moth!” 

While Yugi’s friends were cursing at Weevil for cheating, Sagittarius mentally applauded the Bug Brawler. As much as she despised him, that was actually pretty clever. It was a tactic that she uses, herself. Said supposed cheater was cackling again, “So, Yugi, feeling outclassed yet? Or perhaps you’re enjoying your first major league dueling loss.” 

“You may have gotten your prized monster onto the field, Weevil,” 'Yugi' chuckled. “But I’ll still find a way to squash that oversized bug.” 

“You’ll pay for that stinking jab with your Life Points! My Moth will crush your defenses, slay your knight, and exterminate you from the tournament!” Weevil declared as his Insect monster attacked ‘Yugi’s’ face-down monster. Beaver Warrior was revealed before it was killed in a gust of wind. 

Weevil’s turn ended, and ‘Yugi’ was given the opportunity to go on the attack. However, his knight had only 2300 ATK points, and the Great Moth had 2600. But then, he played a magic card that would give him a fighting chance. 

“I use Polymerization to fuse Gaia the Fierce Knight and the Curse of Dragon in my hand to create Gaia the Dragon Champion!” 

‘Yugi’ and Weevil now each had a monster on the Field with 2600 ATK points, but if ‘Yugi’ attacked, both their creatures would be killed. And since it’s Weevil’s turn next, he would just have to summon a weak Insect-Type to destroy the rest of ‘Yugi’s’ 600 Life and win the duel. 

“I told you all along that Yugi doesn’t have a chance at winning this thing,” Mai came to the same conclusion that Sagittarius did. “He wastes too much of his time listening to you losers. Weevil keeps his mind on the game.” 

“Then why didn’t he see this coming?” Tristan asked. 

“See what coming?” Joey and Tea asked incredulously. 

“Whatever it is Yugi’s grinning about.” 

“You’re right, he’s got a big smile,” Joey observed. 

“He’s not smiling, I think he’s laughing,” Tea added her two cents. 

“No way,” Mai added. 

‘Yugi’ was laughing. Sagittarius had to admit, seeing Weevil momentarily freak out at his opponent snickering at him was something that was going to stick with her for a while. Bitch had it comin’. 

“Weevil, I know it will be very difficult for you to accept losing a duel,” he spoke up. “Especially after spending so much time finding inventive ways to cheat, but if you think bending the rules would help you win this match, you’re wrong.” 

Weevil called it a bluff, but Sagittarius wasn’t buying it. The duelist on the blue platform had something up his sleeve. 

“I sacrifice Gaia the Dragon Champion,” ‘Yugi’ stated. His friends gaped at him. Why would he sacrifice his strongest monster? “And call forth Summoned Skull!” The Fiend monster snarled as it appeared on the field. That only confused his friends even more. Summoned Skull had less ATK points than Gaia, so what was he thinking? 

Weevil only laughed, “You enjoying your first tournament loss, Yugi? That puny Summoned Skull is no match for my Great Moth!” 

“I play the Spell Card, Makiu the Magical Mist!” 

“What are you gonna do with that?” Weevil sneered. 

“When I have Summoned Skull on the field, I can use Makiu the Magical Mist to destroy any monster on your side of the field!” 

“What no!” Weevil immediately caught onto to what Yugi was planning. ‘Yugi’ picked his target, and the Great Moth was sent to the discard pile. “And my turn’s not over! I play Monster Reborn to bring back Gaia the Dragon Champion!” ‘Yugi’ now had two powerful monsters ready to attack, and Weevil had nothing to protect his Life. He ordered his attack, and the Bug Brawler’s 4000 Life were wiped out in an instant. 

Sagittarius snorted. Based on their opening plays, she thought this was going to be a long and boring duel of slowly scraping off the opponent’s Life, but then ‘Yugi’ turned around and attacked with over 5000 points. It’s the kind of shit people expect from her, so it was a bit odd to see that kind of match from an outside perspective.

“But I’m the runner up in the Regional Championship!” Weevil whined from on the ground. 

“You call yourself a top-ranked duelist,” ‘Yugi’ stepped forward and took the Bug Brawler’s two star chips. “But you only won your duels through lying and cheating. True duelists play with honor. They play fair.” 

“Bah, don’t waste your breath on this sneaky slug. He’s a duelin’ disgrace.” Joey snarled as he forcefully takes Weevil’s glove. “And I hereby relieve him of his duelin’ gauntlet.”

‘Yugi’ placed three of his star chips in his own gauntlet before turning to Sagittarius and offering his fourth. The one that she gave him before the duel. 

The Champion shook her head, “I gave it to you. And besides, I saw what you did before we got on the boat. You gave one of your star chips to your friend before you even knew wat he was fighting for. So keep it, and I look forward to seeing both of you in the finals.” 

‘Yugi’ hummed in agreement before extending a hand to her. Sagittarius snorted before accepting the handshake. Most people don’t make friends with a handshake, but Sagittarius doesn’t have friends so she wouldn’t know. Well, maybe she previously didn’t have friends. 

When the two let go, the Champion felt a weight in her hand. She looked down to see a star chip and looked back up to see ‘Yugi’ giving her a shit eating grin. 

“You sneaky son of a-“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> field power bonus is still dum


	7. Duel in the Shadows Pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

Sagittarius sighed heavily as she tucked her arms under her chin and curled up on a sturdy tree branch. Her bag was tied to the branch right under her and was dangling in the leaves. She managed to dig up six star chips today. Including her two star chips received at the start of the tournament, she only needs two more to enter the castle. Truth be told, she wanted to kill more duelists, but she couldn’t find any because they were all asleep. 

It was already difficult finding challengers to send to the grave. Most people didn’t want to duel her anyway because of her Champion status. Because of that, she made a little self-rule that she would not take enough star chips from someone to send them off the island. If someone had two, she would challenge for one. There was one brave soul who challenged her to an all or nothing battle, and Sagittarius had to offer kudos for guts. But that duel ended in four star chips for her, and the other kid being disqualified. 

“There’s nothin’ in these woods but crickets and squirrels.” That was Joey, and the rest of his squad should be right next to him. 

“Chirp chirp,” Sagittarius deadpanned as she dropped down from a tree. 

Joey and Tristan jumped so high, the nearly landed in the trees that Sagittarius just came from. The Champion guffawed madly at their reaction. 

“Oh hey, Sagittarius,” Yugi smiled when he saw her. “It seems we keep running into you.” 

“What were you doing in a tree?” Tea asked. 

“I was about to set up camp for the night,” Sagittarius replied as she pointed to her little make-shift nest in the branches. 

“You sleep in trees?” Joey asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah,” Sagittarius scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. “For some reason, I just can’t sleep when I’m close to the ground. It’s a thing that I still don’t get.” 

“Oh no,” Tea scoffed. “I get it. All those creepy bugs and the filthy ground is just horrible.” 

The Champion scratched her cheek awkwardly. Not what she meant, but whatever. But Luna didn’t really know how to explain it. Her knack of sleeping suspended in the air was not from some random bug phobia, but more of a sense of comfort and familiarity. 

“Hey, do you wanna set up camp with us?” Yugi asked. “We were just about to settle in for the night.” 

Sagittarius blinked and pondered for a moment before agreeing. Now, the five of them sat in a circle and shared ghost stories, and by ghost stories, Sagittarius meant Tristan talking about food and Joey complaining about being hungry. Speaking of food, Joey decided he was so desperate, he’d rather get poisoned by a wild mushroom than go hungry. It was then that Mai decided to show up and start eating right in front of them. The Champion snickered. Mai gives no fucks. Sagittarius can respect that. As Mai and Joey bickered, Sagittarius decided to not reveal that she has grub in her bag. She wanted to see where this conversation went. 

Joey was smart for once and asked, “Why should we trust you?” 

Mai gave a response that made the Champion cackle, “It’s either me or the poisonous mushroom.” 

Before anyone was allowed to eat anything, Mai sent the boys away to fetch food and firewood. Sagittarius dug through the grub she kept in her bag, and she heard the real reason Mai sent Yugi, Joey, and Tristan away was to let Tea get a shower without the guys being around. Guess Sagittarius was excused from chores because she was a girl. Jokes on Mai, though. Sagittarius would be okay with seeing behind that shower curtain just as much as the guys are. Not that she’ll ever say it out loud. 

After everyone was allowed to start eating, Mai declared that every duelist is an enemy and stormed off, saying she was going on a walk. Sagittarius took another bite out of her apple and pondered. While it is important to have a competitive nature, it is also important to remember that this is just a friendly game. An enemy today can be a friend tomorrow and vice versa. 

After everyone was finished eating, Tea suggested they search for Mai, but before they could get up, a rustle in the bushes startled them. The Champion froze and immediately jumped to her feet, her hands automatically going to the pocketknife hidden in her cargo pants. Whatever this presence was, it was making every hair on her body stand on end. It made her feel as if she were about to face Anubis himself. 

However, a head of white hair appeared, and the other four in Sagittarius' group recognized him as a friend from school. 

Bakura, as he was introduced, looked to the Champion with a weary expression, and that was when she realized she still had her knife out. Sagittarius sheepishly tucked the blade away. The rest of the gang didn’t say anything about her randomly carrying around a knife, thank the gods. 

Now that the tense atmosphere had been resolved, the six of them sat around the campfire. Well, five of them were relaxed. Sagittarius sat off on the sidelines and silently played with the knife in her pocket. There was something off about Bakura that the Champion couldn’t explain. He seemed friendly, but he had the same malicious aura that Pegasus has. 

They were talking about their favorite cards, and the Queen of Cards couldn’t help but feel like an intruder. This was a chat between friends from school. However, it seemed Joey had other ideas, “’Ey what ‘bout you, Sagittarius?” 

Her head snapped up at suddenly being the center of attention, “Wha-?” 

“What card in your deck is your favorite?” Yugi asked. 

The Champion hummed in thought. She didn’t really have a favorite card, but she did have a signature monster, “I think I’ll have to pick the Triamid Sphinx.” 

Tea spoke up, “Maybe I’m just out of the loop, but don’t you guys think it’s a little silly to be comparing ourselves to playing cards.” 

“Maybe a little,” Yugi admitted. “But it’s like grandpa says, ‘It’s not about the playing cards, it’s about putting a little bit of your heart into anything that you care about,’ ya know?” 

When Bakura was asked about his favorite card, he held up Change of Heart. Sagittarius blinked. That was an extremely powerful magic card, and she could see why it was his favorite. The Champion has a few favorite magic cards in her deck, too. 

Sagittarius immediately tensed again when Bakura challenged Yugi to a duel. He said it was just for fun, but the Champion felt malice behind his words. She thought to herself that the best course of action would be to run and not look back, but, for some reason, she didn’t want to leave while Bakura was still here. She felt herself shift slightly to put herself in between the white-haired teen and Tea, the person next to her. 

“Why don’t you guys each put your favorite cards in Yugi’s deck, so it’ll be like we’re all playing,” Bakura suggested. 

They immediately agreed, and the Champion was left to loiter on the sidelines again. Until Joey got her attention again, “Don’t think we’re leavin’ you outta this, Sagittarius! You’re part o’ our group now.” 

The Champion could only blink dumbly in response before glancing at the others. They were looking at Luna expectantly, as if they actually agreed with Joey. She snorted; they probably did. “Alright,” the Queen of Cards joined the circle. “Enough peer pressure. But Triamid Sphinx can only be summoned if a Triamid monster goes to the Graveyard.” 

“Oh, that’s right,” Yugi remarked with an embarrassed grin. 

Sagittarius hummed before skimming through her deck again, “If you wanna duel using a card of mine, then how about this one.” She held up Horus the Black Flame Dragon. 

“Hey, don’t you use that in your duels against Kaiba?” Yugi asked. 

Sagittarius chuckled, “Oh yeah. Seto wasn’t too happy about being challenged with a Dragon-Type monster that rivaled his Blue-Eyes.” She gave Yugi her Dragon-Type card, and he shuffled it and his friends’ cards into his deck. He and Bakura faced each other and used a tree stump as the board. However, before they could begin the game, a gold pendant appeared on the white-haired teen, and he announced that he would be sending them to the Shadow Realm. Sagittarius reacted and stood in front of the group of teens behind her, but that didn’t do any good. Darkness surrounded them, and Sagittarius felt herself being dragged into shadows. She could only describe it as the place she’s sent to in her nightmares. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------

The Champion came out swinging. She didn’t know what put her back into that pitch-black emptiness, but whatever the hell it was, Sagittarius was going to make it pay. She howled angrily and flailed her arms around, hoping to land a hit on the closest person to her. However, there was nobody nearby, and the Champion took notice that her voice had a demonic growl behind it when she roared. 

An amused chuckle got Sagittarius' attention, and she looked up to see a giant version of Bakura. And this Bakura seemed to be the embodiment of what Luna was sensing from the white-haired teen when she first met him. Sinister and mysterious. 

“Afraid of the dark, this one,” Bakura said with a sadistic grin. Even his voice had changed. “Or maybe she was just reminded of some bitter memories long forgotten.”

Sagittarius turned around to see a giant version of Yugi behind her, holding Duel Monsters cards. She then looked down to see that her feet were not human anymore. Instead of boots, the Champion saw gleaming black raptor talons that she instantly recognized as Horus the Black Flame Dragon’s feet. Sagittarius was a goddamn Duel Monster, and Yugi and Bakura were the players. 

“Sagittarius, listen to me,” Yugi said to her. The Champion’s eyes narrowed. This was not Yugi; this was the same figure who would take over for Yugi was he was dueling. That got Sagittarius thinking. Bakura began acting like a different person once he revealed that pendant around his neck. The symbol looked familiar to Sagittarius, and now she knew why. That same symbol was on the pendant that Yugi wore. Both Bakura and Yugi seemed to have ‘darker’ personalities connected to the pendants they wore.

“Your soul has been sealed inside your favorite card; you’ve become Horus the Black Flame Dragon.” 

Sagittarius was tempted to snap back at the obvious remark, but she let ‘Yugi’ continue. It seemed he knew something she didn’t. 

“If I don’t win this duel, we can’t restore you to normal. But if you’re defeated in this battle, you’ll be carried off to the card Graveyard just like Tristan was. In order to win this duel, return you to your body, and get out of the Shadow Realm, I’m going to need your help.” 

The Champion didn’t verbally respond, but she turned to her supposed opponent and flared out her arms, or wings rather. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” ‘Yugi’ asked, and Sagittarius could hear the genuine concern in his voice. 

The Champion didn’t know if she could talk, so she didn’t want to embarrass herself by trying and potentially failing. She also didn’t have hands anymore, so she just turned her head and winked at him to reply. 

‘Yugi’ seemed satisfied with that and ordered an attack on ‘Bakura’s’ monster. Sagittarius growled as she felt a heat claw its way up her throat from her chest. Embers flicked out from her mouth before she exhaled a pitch-black fireball at ‘Bakura’s’ monster. The White Magical Hat’s 1000 ATK points stood no chance against her 1600 ATK points, and it was killed along with 600 of ‘Bakura’s’ Life. When Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4 destroys an opponent, it becomes LV6 and its ATK rises from 1600 to 2300. 

It was ‘Bakura’s’ turn, and he placed a card face down in the Monster Zone. 

Sagittarius' tail swished behind her as she waited for ‘Yugi’ to make another move. Unfortunately, she was only a game piece and not the player, so she had no say in what the plays in the game are. 

“I summon Feral Imp in ATK Mode,” ‘Yugi’ announced. The monster appeared on the battlefield and snarled at his opponent. However, he briefly paused to greet the Champion with a nod before returning his glare at the enemy. Sagittarius could only stare dumbly. Were these creatures actually sentient? 

‘Yugi’ didn’t know what his DEF Mode monster was and didn’t know it’s stats. If he attacked and a trap was waiting for him, then that monster could go to the Graveyard. He didn’t want that to happen to Sagittarius , so he upgraded his Feral Imp with Horn of the Unicorn and ordered an attack. The face down monster was revealed and Bakura’s Morphing Jar died. 

“No!” ‘Yugi’ exclaimed. Ssagittarius shot him a questioning glance before seeing that he had the Flame Swordsman in his hand. As he discarded his hand (and Joey, Sagittarius realized), the Champion saw that ‘Bakura’ had no monster or traps to protect him, and it’s still ‘Yugi’s’ turn. She roared before attacking with another Black Flame Attack. The strike hit, and ‘Bakura’ lost 2300 Life. He now had only 900 left. 

‘Yugi’ gritted his teeth before continuing his with a new hand of cards. Fortunately, he drew a Spell Card that can help, “I’ll use the Spell Card that lets me revive monsters from the Graveyard, Reborn the Monster!” 

The pattern on the card flashed before the Cyber Commander appeared on the field. The Champion blinked at the appearance of the monster. It looked like Tristan with a Halloween costume. Sagittarius wasn’t wearing a cheap looking costume, she was an actual dragon, now. But she supposed it was a better alternative than wearing dragon armor like some anime character. 

Tristan gaped at seeing Horus the Black Flame Dragon and Feral Imp standing beside him. “Whoa, that’s awesome,” he remarked as he put a hand on Sagittarius' scale-covered neck. The Champion tried not to flinch, but she did internally cringe at the revelation that she could feel Tristan’s fingers on her scales. As in, she’s no longer human. ‘Yugi’ somehow sensed Sagittarius' discomfort. “Tristan, that’s Sagittarius.” 

“Wha-?!” Tristan exclaimed. 

Sagittarius felt her face heat up, or maybe that was just the flames from her attack. She tapped Tristan’s shoulder with a feather from her wing and gestured to ‘Bakura’, more specifically, his lack of defense. ‘Yugi’ picked up on it, however. “Hold on, Sagittarius. Joey is still in the Graveyard. We have to get him back before the duel is over or he may be lost forever.” 

The Champion paused before she nodded. It was a slight possibility that Joey would stay in the Graveyard. The card may go back to the owner’s deck after the game is over, but she doesn’t know how a Shadow Game works. The card may be playable again, but it is possible the soul may not. But ‘Yugi’ already played his Monster Reborn card to bring back Tristan. How was he going to save Joey?


	8. Duel in the Shadows Pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

“I place one card face-down and end my turn,” ‘Yugi’ announced. Hopefully, he played a Trap Card to protect Tristan. The brunette’s favorite card had only 750 ATK points. 

‘Bakura’ chuckled darkly, “With a new hand, comes a whole new perspective.” He Set a monster on the field. “The game, ever shifting.” He placed a card face down in the Trap Zone. "New dangers surround every turn."

“I summon Beaver Warrior in ATK Mode,” ‘Yugi’ made his move. Just like the Feral Imp, Beaver Warrior glanced at Sagittarius before homing in on its target. ‘Yugi’ either didn’t see or didn’t care because he sacrificed both monsters to summon Dark Magician. 

The Champion heard the monster gasp in surprise, and her head whipped around to see Yugi, the Yugi she met on the boat, standing on the field as his favorite monster. She glanced up at the player on her side of the field and still saw the “Other Yugi”. So, there were two Yugis. The “Other Yugi” must’ve summoned the Dark Magician for fear of another Morphing Jar. 

“Oh hey, Yugi,” Tristan greeted. 

“Wait, just a second ago, I was up there,” Yugi observed, blank-faced but still confused. 

“Yeah, if you’re down here, who’s that up there?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Don’t you?” ‘Yugi’ asked. 

“Well, I noticed that sometimes, when I duel, it feels as if someone is guiding me.” 

The “Other Yugi” nodded and urged him to continue. 

“And sometimes it’s like I can hear a strong voice calling out to me from my Millennium Puzzle. An ancient and powerful voice.” 

Sagittarius raised an eyebrow at this. Guess it was just as she thought. Those pendants that Bakura and Yugi wear have some strange power. 

“I’m not sure what it’s all about, guys, but I’m pretty sure we can trust him, whoever he is.” 

“Well,” Tristan turned to him. “If he’s okay by you, then he’s okay by me. So now I think we should win this duel before Tea’s card gets played.”

“Good idea,” Yugi responded. 

Hold on. Tea’s favorite card is the Magician of Faith. That monster’s ability is bringing back a magic card from the Graveyard. ‘Yugi’ can use that to save Joey. The Queen of Cards got their attention by tapping Tristan on the shoulder with her wing and shaking her head. 

“Uh, what do you mean no?” Tristan exclaimed. “You mean you want Tea’s card to be played?” 

Sagittarius nodded. 

“Wait, Sagittarius,” Yugi got her attention. “Can you talk?” 

The Champion’s wing joints went up and down as she shrugged. She then looked up to the “Other Yugi” and hoped he got the message. She pointed to ‘Bakura’s’ face-down monster and to ‘Yugi’s’ Graveyard. 

‘Yugi’ glanced at his hand again before smirking at Sagittarius, “I got it.” 

The Queen of Cards returned his grin, but Tristan and Yugi looked confused, “Uh, got what?” 

“Sagittarius, attack his face down card!” ‘Yugi’ continued his turn. 

The Champion roared and jumped into the sky with a beat of her wings. A pitch-black fireball blasted the DEF Mode monster, which was another Morphing Jar. She heard Yugi sigh in relief beside her. Good thing ‘Yugi’ summoned Dark Magician before ‘Bakura’s’ monster could send that card to the Graveyard. Sagittarius' Special Ability activated again. Because she destroyed a monster, she now stood as LV8 with an ATK strength of 3000. However, ‘Yugi’ ended his turn there because he can’t defeat ‘Bakura’ until he saves Joey from the Graveyard. 

“Hey, that was another Morphing Jar!” Tristan exclaimed. 

‘Bakura’ chuckled, “We’ll have to send all the cards in our hands to the Graveyard again.” 

“I’m well aware,” ‘Yugi’ replied. 

‘Bakura’ gritted his teeth when he saw how confident his opponent looked. ‘Yugi’ had some kind of strategy, but so did the Spirit of the Ring. He laid a monster card face down and activated a trap card. 

“Just Desserts takes 500 Life Points for each of your monsters on the field,” ‘Bakura’ explained. “And you feel as if each and every point has been ripped from your beating heart.” 

‘Yugi’ doubled over in pain and clutched the fabric over his heart as the Trap Card ended its effect. 

“Big Yugi!” Tristan called out. “Are you okay?” 

“Yes,” he gasped out. “But we can’t take many more hits like that!” 

Sagittarius turned around and roared, daring ‘Bakura’ to pull a stunt like that again. The Spirit only laughed at her defiance. 

‘Yugi’ pushed himself up, his limbs still shaking from exhaustion. He glanced down at his cards before playing a monster in face down DEF Mode and ending his turn. A flash of light came from the field, and Tea appeared from under the card. She greeted her friends cheerfully, and the two boys both jumped to try and shield her from ‘Bakura’s’ line of sight. 

“Uh guys?” Tea asked in confusion. 

“Stay quiet,” Tristan whispered sharply. 

“It’s a little early for Halloween, don’t you think?” she finally noticed the staff and robe she was wearing and gasped in surprise. “What the- what’s this?” 

“Shush,” Tristan mutters, trying to keep ‘Bakura’ from seeing her. “Bakura and Yugi are big dueling giants fighting for our souls.” 

“But Yugi’s right here,” Tea protested, confused. 

“Yeah well, the big guy’s not really me, but he’s not really not me,” Yugi babbled, probably just as confused. 

Sagittarius wished she could talk. She hasn’t actually tried yet, so she doesn’t know if she can. She opened her mouth, but the only thing that came out was a squawk. She immediately snapped her jaws shut and looked away in embarrassment. The sound got their attention. 

“Did you say something, Sagittarius?” Tristan asked. 

The Champion almost crossed her arms, but then she realized she didn’t have arms anymore. 

“Look,” Yugi got their attention again. “I’m not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with the Millennium Items me and Bakura have. It’s some kind of magic.” 

“Magic?” Tea repeated. “So I’m not going crazy.” 

“Not unless we’re all going crazy,” Yugi quipped back with a nervous smile. 

“If you won’t attack, then I will!” ‘Bakura’ declared. “The Change of Heart.” 

“Isn’t that Bakura’s favorite card?” Yugi asked. 

“And a very magical card it is,” the Spirit of the Ring replied. “With this card, I can turn you against your comrades. The very friends you sought to protect you will now destroy. I destroy you, I defeat him, “he gestured briefly to the player on the other side of the field, “and you happen to have a monster on the field that is stronger than the Dark Magician.” 

Sagittarius snarled and flared her wings out in front of the people behind her. She didn’t care about the rules of this game anymore. There was no way she was going to let a magic card take her over and make her kill them. 

“Leave Sagittarius out of this,” ‘Yugi’ snarled from the other side of the board. 

“Why should I?” ‘Bakura’ sneered and placed the magic card on the field. They all gaped when they saw what seemed to be Bakura in place of his favorite card, just like everybody else was. “Horus the Black Flame Dragon, attack the Dark Magician!” 

Change of Heart activated, and Sagittarius felt her wings start beating on their own. She tried to stop herself, but she couldn’t control her own body. She howled in fury and pain, but the only sound that came out was a bloodthirsty battle cry. The Champion could only watch as a Black Flame Attack shot through the air and aimed for Yugi. She heard his friends call out to him, but it was no use. 

“Reveal, face-down card!” ‘Yugi’ declared. “Negate Attack!” Even though she couldn’t control her actions, Sagittarius' mind was still going. That must be the Trap Card ‘Yugi’ played after he used Monster Reborn to bring back Tristan from the Graveyard. “Not only does it cancel out the attack, but it automatically ends your turn. And since Change of Heart only lasts for one turn, Sagittarius is back on my side of the field.”

Since the Spell Card was no longer possessing her, Sagittarius was suddenly back in control of her own body and her own wings. But the sudden whiplash made her lose her balance, and she fell to the ground. 

“Sagittarius!” they all called out to her. “Are you okay?” 

She lifted her head up to see Yugi giving her a worried expression. She gave him an apologetic look as smoke exited her mouth with a small hiss.

Yugi understood what she was trying to say, “It’s okay, Sagittarius. We know you didn’t mean to do it.” 

They were brought back to the duel when ‘Bakura’ began laughing maniacally. ‘Yugi’ narrowed his eyes and cautiously waited for his opponent’s next move. “And by overcoming Change of Heart, you’ve sent your dear friend to the Graveyard,” the evil Spirit cackled. “Bakura is gone forever.” 

“Not if I can help it,” ‘Yugi’ countered. “If the evil power from Bakura’s Millennium Ring can pull souls from people, perhaps the power from my Millennium Puzzle can put them back!” 

The real Bakura was now in his own body, on the other side of the field, and the Spirit of the Ring was forced into the Spell Card and sent to the Graveyard. Yugi and his friends cheered. "And now, it’s my turn,” ‘Yugi’ declared. “And I use the Magician of Faith’s Special Ability to add a magic card to my hand from the discard pile, Reborn the Monster!” The Flame Swordsman was brought back, and Joey had a minor freak out at seeing the dueling giants and the monsters on the field as his friends. 

“Let’s end this sick game,” ‘Yugi’ said. “I lay one card face-down. Now listen carefully, Yugi, attack his Man-Eater Bug!” 

Yugi already knew what card his other half played, “You got it! Dark Magic Attack!” Man-Eater Bug was flipped up, and it targeted a random card on the field, which happened to be Tristan. He yelped and stumbled back, “No! I don’t want to go back to the Graveyard!” 

“I play my face down card, Dark Sacrifice!” ‘Yugi’ declared. “By discarding a monster from my deck, I negate the effect of any monster on the field!” A monster was put in the discard pile, and Tristan was spared. Now that Bakura had no more monsters, and all the soul cards were saved from the Graveyard, the Shadow Game can finally come to an end. 

“Sagittarius, attack his Life Points directly!” She roared and, with no hesitation, blasted Bakura with a Black Flame Attack. Their opponent lost his last 900 Life, and the game was over. 

\------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you okay, Bakura?” Yugi asked his friend. 

“I am now,” the white-haired teen replied. “Thanks to you.” 

The shorter of the two asked the other where he got his Millennium Item before seeing their friends start to wake up. 

“I just dreamt Bakura went totally mental,” Tristan grumbled, and Joey agreed. 

Sagittarius stretched her arms, reveling in the fact that she no longer had scales and claws. However, a thought did cross her mind. The wings were badass, and a part of her wanted to keep them. Bakura approached them, and Joey and Tristan jumped back in fright. 

“I dreamt we were dressed as Duel Monster,” Tea started as she put a hand on her chin in thought. “And there were two Yugis.” 

The teen in question tensed up, and Sagittarius nearly rolled her eyes. Hell of a coincidence that they all dreamed the same thing. Didn’t she think that was a little strange? It was a bit unbelievable they were willing to dismiss that weird experience as a weird dream, and, to be honest, Sagittarius wanted to as well. But too many things didn’t add up. 

A scream saved them from an awkward conversation. Sagittarius didn’t recognize it at first but then remembered Mai wandered off on her own and didn’t come back. She shot to her feet and ran after the sound, the others not too far behind her.


	9. Eliminate or Be Eliminated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

Sagittarius didn’t want to toot her own horn, but she was a much faster runner than those behind her and got to the source of the scream first. As she ran into the clearing, she saw a duel arena, but both competitors were being lowered to the ground. Sagittarius looked up at the Life and saw that the duelist on the blue side had lost. She glanced over at who the duelist was and saw a familiar head of blonde hair. 

“Mai!” Sagittarius shouted as she ran closer. “Are you okay?” 

The voice made the woman look up from her spot on the platform. The Champion hopped up onto the blue and grabbed Mai’s shoulders to steady her. She looked like she was about to pass out. 

“You’re too late,” the blonde mumbled dejectedly. 

“Too late for what?” Sagittarius asked. 

The heavy stomp from Mai’s opponent as he walked closer made the black-haired teen look up to see a massive man with a black trench coat and a sadistic grin making his way towards them. 

“What did you do?” the Champion felt a growl rumble in her throat. Mai was very shaken up, and even though she threw a tantrum after Sagittarius defeated her, there’s no way she would have this bad a reaction to a simple duel. 

“I just did what Pegasus pays me to do,” the man responds with a puffed-out chest, clearly proud of himself. “Root out all the dueling filth on this island and dispose of it.” 

“Garbage day?” Sagittarius raised an eyebrow. 

“This is no joke!” Mai spat. “Panik’s one of the island’s eliminators, and if you don’t get out of here, he’s gonna do to you what he did to me!” 

“An eliminator?” Sagittarius glanced at the woman. More rules that Pegasus conveniently forgot to share at the start of the tournament. 

“Look,” Panik reaches and grabs Mai’s wrist and pulling her arm up, proudly showing off the missing star chips. “This is what she means right here. Check out her duelist’s glove. Not a star chip left!” 

“Mai, you’re out?” the Champion asked her. 

“I am,” she replied in a defeated voice. “It all happened so fast. The way Panik duels, I just… lost it.” 

Panik laughed loudly in response, making Sagittarius' eyes narrow in anger. It’s one thing to defeat someone and another thing to gloat. Something about this whole situation really rubbed her the wrong way. Why did Pegasus hire eliminators in a simple card game tournament? 

“She was one of my easiest victims yet,” the brute used his grip to throw her to the ground, but the Champion was already there and ready to catch her before she hit the ground. “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?” the Queen of Cards snarled out before she could stop herself. “I’m your next opponent!” 

“You twerp,” Panik countered with a sadistic grin, but he accepted the challenge, regardless. He went back to the red platform as the Champion walked over to the blue. At that moment, the others caught up to Sagittarius and burst into the clearing. 

“Sagittarius!” Yugi called out. “What’s going on?” 

The girl in question, however, ignored them. “It’s time to duel!” 

Mai hesitantly walked over to the group to watch the duel. “Mai, what happened?” Tea immediately questioned. The woman wordlessly held up her dueling glove to show that it was empty. 

“Wh- Mai? You were beaten?” Joey asked in a bewildered tone. 

She nodded and explained to the group what she already told Sagittarius. Panik was one of the eliminators hired by Pegasus, and she lost an all or nothing match to him. The Queen of Cards stood up for Mai, and now she’s in the middle of a duel with one of the island’s strongest obstacles. However, instead of outwardly showing any concern (like Mai would think they’d start doing), the group started cheering for the Champion. 

“Kick ‘im off the island, Sagittarius!” 

“Show that creep who’s boss!” 

The duelist in question turned to them with a thumbs up. She wasn’t going to lose. That only confused the blonde woman, “What’s with you? I just told you what she’s up against and you still think Sagittarius can win?” 

“Mai, you’re forgettin’ that Sagittarius is the Champion o’ Duel Monsters,” Joey responded with a grin. 

“Champion or no, she’s never fought someone like Panik,” Mai ground out. 

“I’ll eliminate you from the tournament just like I did her!” Panik shouted with a massive grin. 

Oh, so this was a trash talk battle. So be it. “Only if you beat me. I'll bet my eight chips to win Mai's eight from you!"

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with, do you?” Panik throws back. He quickly realized that she was trying to use his own tactic against him and rose to the challenge. “You’ve never faced someone like me before. When I’m in a match with someone, there’s a lot more to it than sheer dueling strategy.” 

The Queen of Cards raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. 

“Panik’s ruthless, Sagittarius !” Mai shouted. “He had me totally terrified!” 

“That’s right, and she’s not the first either!” Pani boasted. “We eliminators have built our career on stalking weak players like her and strong arming them into dueling us! You see, when you’re as good as I am, you learn to appreciate the hunt as much as the duel itself. And now I’m going to take you down, just like I did Mai!” 

Sagittarius has faced others like him before. People like him liked to distract their opponents. It’s the same tactic Mai used but on a different level. She freaked her opponents out by pretending she can she what move you make before you make it, and Panik just used sheer intimidation. People like them liked to talk, but Sagittarius liked to talk, too.

“So you sneak around and force the weak ones to fight you because you know you can’t handle the stronger opponents?” the Champion asked with a feral grin. 

Panik immediately stopped laughing, and Sagittarius' grin became impossibly wider. “You wanna prove me wrong? Then accept my challenge. Eliminate or be eliminated!” 

“Fine by me!” the brute shouted back as he pressed a button from a panel on his side of the arena. “When you duel against Panik,” restraints came out from the blue side and snapped closed around Sagittarius' ankles, trapping her in place. Startled, the Champion hissed slightly and tried forcing her way out of them. However, they didn’t budge, and Panik wasn’t done. He hit another button, and two small protrusion jutted out and aimed for her. “You’re putting more than just your star chips on the line.” Those two protrusions spat streams of fire that barely missed her when she ducked out of the way. “Much more!” 

Sagittarius could barely hear Panik’s laughter over the roar of the fire. That was just low and completely uncalled for. There were children on this island! Who knows how many had to face this creep and his underhanded intimidation tactics? That just made the Champion even more fired up. She was going to win and eliminate Panik.

“Stay strong, Sagittarius!” Joey encouraged. 

“Panik used those on me, too,” Mai remarked with a quiver in her voice. 

The rest of the gang brought their arms up to try to shield themselves from the light and the heat. Eventually, the fire died down, but only so Panik could gloat some more, “I can see the fear growing in your eyes, Sagittarius. I do believe you are beginning to panic!” 

“I'll kill you,” she challenged with a straight face as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Despite the threat, Panik still laughed in reply, “The last time someone had the nerve to talk to me like that, I broke them in half! Now let’s duel!” Both their Life hit 4000, and the game began. 

“Seeing how my fire didn’t faze you, let’s turn down the light,” Panik played his first card. “My Castle of Dark Illusions will turn this duel into your darkest hour, Sagittarius. Its magic shrouds the field with a veil of shadows.” 

The mentioned castle appears on the field and, just as Panik explained, covered his side of the field with shadows. Sagittarius squinted. She had extremely sensitive eyes and could see in the dark better than the average person, but her vision couldn’t see through this darkness. As expected from a Duel Monsters hologram. 

“And the castle itself is extra fortified thanks to the field power bonus I get for playing it at night!” The monster’s DEF rose to 2509. 

“My move,” the Champion replied as she drew a card. “I use the Field Spell Card, Triamid Cruiser.” Her side of the holographic arena was then surrounded by bricks of a pyramid, creating a fortress to protect her much like how Panik was using darkness to protect him. 

“Now, every time I summon a Rock-Type monster, I gain 500 Life. So, I’ll summon Triamid Hunter in ATK Mode, and my monster’s Special Ability activates. Since I control a Field Spell Card, I can summon another Rock-Type monster from my hand, and I choose Triamid Master, giving me another 500 Life. And I’m not finished. Another ability from my Triamid Cruiser allows me to discard one card and draw another one when I summon a Rock-Type Monster. And I summoned two.” Sagittarius had two monsters on the field, 1000 more Life than her opponent, was able to draw a new hand of cards, and hadn’t even entered the Battle Phase yet. She was off to a pretty good start. 

“I attack using the Spell Card United We Stand! This raises my monster’s ATK Points by 800 for every other monster I have on the field. Even though your castle gets a field power bonus from being in the night, my monsters are still strong even to destroy it. Triamid Master, kill the Castle of Dark Illusions!” The Rock-Type raised his staff in the air with a battle cry and, with his new 2600 ATK points, easily wiped out the enemy monster, but because it was in DEF Mode, Panik didn’t lose any Life. 

“You have no monsters to protect you, coward,” the Queen of Cards sneered before ordering her second monster to make a direct attack. Her opponent lost 1400 Life, leaving him with 2600 left. “Eliminator, my ass,” Sagittarius closed her eyes and smiled icily. “Did you think that by hiding in the shadows, I would be too scared to attack you?” 

Panik gritted his teeth. His darkness was gone, his opponent had over 2000 more Life than him, and he was completely defenseless. He underestimated her. Meanwhile, on the ground, the audience gaped at that opening attack. 

“Now that was just brutal,” Tristan said. 

“She ain’t the Champion for nothin’,” Joey commented with a whistle. 

“I summon Archfiend Soldier in ATK Mode!” Panik began his turn. “Destroy Triamid Hunter!” 

Panik’s monster had 1900 ATK points, Triamid Master had 2600, and Triamid Hunter had 1400. If he lands this attack on her weaker monster, then Sagittarius loses points, but she’s not going to let that happen. She’s going to show him that he has no chance to win, and he never did in the first place. He was probably attacking Sagittarius' weaker monster to do the most damage, but he just fell right into her trap. 

“I use my Triamid Master’s Special Ability,” the Champion stopped Panik in his tracks. “During my opponent’s turn, I target a Triamid Field Card and destroy it, and by doing so, I can activate another Triamid Field Card from my deck with a different name. So, come forth, Triamid Kingolem!” The pyramid around Sagittarius' side of the field vanished only to be replaced with a similar fortress, this one equipped with weaponry. “My Triamid Kingolem raises the ATK of all my Rock-Type monsters by 500 points! And now, my Triamid Cruiser’s other ability,” Sagittarius continued her turn. “When it is sent to the Graveyard, I add a Triamid monster to my hand, and I choose my Triamid Sphinx!” 

The Champion didn’t bother hiding what she had drawn. In an actual duel, this would be a foolish move, but in this instance, it was necessary. Sagittarius was facing someone who used intimidation as a weapon, so she would use it right back but with much more firepower. Panik had no hope of winning, and Sagittarius was beating that lesson into his skull each and every turn. 

“NO!” Panik cried. He knew what this meant. When a Triamid monster is killed, Sagittarius can summon her signature Triamid Sphinx. But it was too late to call off the attack now. Panik’s Archfiend Soldier continued its attack, but now it was evenly matched with Triamid Hunter. Both were killed but neither player lost any Life. The Egyptian Queen of Cards’ Triamid Sphinx was summoned. Her battle hungry gaze met Panik’s shocked one and let out a war cry in response to her calling. 

“Thanks to Triamid Sphinx’s Special Ability, her ATK and DEF Points rise by 500 for every Field Spell Card in my Graveyard, and I count one. Including the power bonus from my Triamid Kingolem on the field and my Triamid Cruiser in the Graveyard, Triamid Sphinx gets another 1000 ATK Points!” The monster roared as her ATK shot up to 3500. It was more than enough to destroy Panik’s 2400 Life left. 

“You have no monsters to protect you, Panik,” Sagittarius hissed out. “Game over. Triamid Sphinx, kill him with Plasma Bolt!” The Rock-Type roared. The electricity blanketed the entire clearing with its light before Traimid Sphinx unleashed her attack. "DIE!" the Queen of Cards howled as the lightning struck her opponent. In an instant, Panik was wiped out. And, just like that, the duel was over. Everyone had something different running through their minds, but they all agreed on one thing: that was not a battle. That was a merciless, one-sided slaughter. 

“She…” Tea stuttered out. “She won. She beat him.” 

“And it looks like Panik’s not takin’ it well,” Joey chuckled out nervously. 

“I’ll say,” Tristan added. “Panik’s having a panic attack!” 

Sagittarius heard that and rolled her eyes at the pun. Hopefully, she doesn’t develop a habit. There were a lot of bad puns on this island and a lot of eye rolls. 

“Nobody beats Panik! Nobody!” the man was hunched over on his side of the arena. Even though Sagittarius couldn’t see him, she could hear and feel the disbelief and hatred in his eyes. When he did look up, the Egyptian Queen of Cards only glared at him with her arms crossed. “Look at her, that smug little worm, still she mocks me. I may not have defeated you, Sagittarius, but I can still eliminate you!” 

He slammed his fist on the button with such force, that the panel itself shattered. Every single flamethrower went off, including some that were aimed directly at the Champion. The audience on the ground could only watch in horror as fire surrounded Sagittarius and aimed to kill her. 

“We’ll see who’s the coward now!” Panik shouted victoriously. 

However, before the flames could hit Sagittarius, they were stopped by an invisible barrier before shooting up into the sky. The orange light from the fire rose into the stars before two long appendages stretched out and extended across the clearing. The others, who were out of the ring, had to dive to the ground to avoid being singed.

Panik can only stare in terror at what stood before him. He stumbled back and almost fell off the red platform. “This has to be a trick!” he cried out. 

The fire danced and burned the sky in the form of a massive beast with blood red eyes. The wings wrapped around the Champion, almost protectively, as its pointed head swiveled around to glare at Panik with hatred. Its head reared back, and it roared. No, roared isn’t the best term. The monster screamed, the sound a primordial and untamable shriek that shook the island. 

“Eliminate or be eliminated,” Sagittarius spoke in a neutral voice. Even though her tone and expression were unfeeling, the monster behind her gave those four simple words an aura of death. The head of the beast loomed over the arena and its massive jaws opened in a snarl, bright white flames licking the side of its mouth. Panik dared to take his eyes off the creature and only saw a sight that would make him shudder. While the Egyptian Queen of Cards' expression remained deathly still, it was her eyes that held the terrifying glare rivaled only by the monster itself. The bright ruby eyes had darkened to a bloody red and appeared almost demonic. 

The owner of that bloodthirsty gaze spoke only a single sentence before the field was engulfed in flames, **“The door of darkness has been opened.”**


	10. Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

The flames subsided, but the others still couldn’t pick themselves off the ground. None of them were hurt or even singed; they were just shellshocked. What the hell had happened? 

That creature that came from the fire was real, wasn’t it? They all saw it, they all heard it, they all felt it. That overbearing presence felt like it was birthed in Hell itself. But as soon as it appeared, it disappeared, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake. Now, only the full moon illuminated the battlefield. 

Yugi and the others finally looked up from their spots on the ground to see what had happened. 

The blue side was mostly untouched, and the only sign there had been a struggle was a few singe marks around the side of the arena. The red side, however, was completely cooked. The metal around the outer wall was burnt to a crisp with the wiring and plating on the inside jutting out like the bones on an animal carcass. Smoke and wisps of orange still rose from the dead machine and into the night. 

Amazingly, no plant life was harmed by the fire. It was almost as if the explosion only targeted the arena and was carefully controlled to not attack any bystanders. But that would mean the creature they saw in the flames was real. They all saw it, but they were still working on believing it. 

Eventually, the group looked up at the sound of the platform lowering. Since only one side was stable enough to do so, they knew it was Sagittarius. She jumped off the platform at the last five feet and walked towards them. One by one, they stood up. 

“Sagittarius…” Tea trailed off, not really knowing what to say. Eventually, she found some words, but they were not the ones she wanted to say to describe that experience. “That was just… incredible.” 

“’Ey, where’d Panik go?” Joey asked while looking around with his fists up, as if expecting the creep to jump out of the bushes any second. 

“The punk probably took off because of the fireworks,” the Champion shrugged nonchalantly. She knew he wasn’t dead because she couldn’t smell any cremated flesh. “But at least he left these,” she held up a total of sixteen star chips. She put her eight back into her gauntlet and took the other eight and stepped forward. Yugi and his friends stepped out of her way so Sagittarius could make her way over to Mai. She held out those star chips to the woman in front of her. “These star chips are yours, right?” 

At seeing Mai’s expression of shock and confusion, Sagittarius continued, “You said Panik took your eight star chips, right? Well, here they are.” 

Mai hesitated before giving her answer, “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept them. I fight my own battles.” 

Sagittarius understood that Mai didn’t want to show any weakness, but there comes a time where you need to let down your defenses. Pride wasn’t going to help anyone in this situation, least of all Mai. 

“Mai, Sagittarius battled for you,” Tea reminded gently. “She risked her life in this duel for you.” 

The Champion swore she heard Joey and/or Tristan mutter something like, “Yeah right. That was a massacre, and we all know it.” But you didn’t hear that from her. 

“I know but,” Mai started, but before she could explain herself, Joey sauntered forward. “Meh, there’s no point in arguin’, she’s way too thickheaded.” He reached around Sagittarius and snatched the eight star chips from her hand. The Champion chuffed in response, but Joey paid her no mind. 

“But if she’d rather be booted off the island, I’ll take ‘em,” the blonde teen laughed as Mai gritted her teeth at him. “You think me losing my star chips is funny, Joey Wheeler?!” 

Sagittarius felt herself get safely tugged out of the crossfire, thank the gods for Tea Gardner. 

“I thought you didn’t want ‘em, Mai,” Joey stepped back and held the star chips above his head when the other competitor tried to grab them. 

“Give ‘em back!” Mai snapped. 

Joey just grinned and slapped the hand with the chips onto Mai’s, depositing the trophies into her hand, “Of course you can have ‘em, they’re yours.” Mai could only stare in shock at what had happened. 

“What a chad,” Sagittarius smirked. Tristan heard this and snickered. 

“Really Joey?” she asked in a disbelieving tone. 

“Didn’t you learn anything from this duel? You can’t do everything on your own. It’s okay to rely on others from time to time. If you push everyone away, the people who want to help you can’t do it,” he answered. Sagittarius squinted suspiciously. Since when was Joey so zen? Was he possessed? 

The teen in question just laughed and put his hands behind his head, “Heh heh! I’m such a sensitive guy!” 

Ah yes, there it is. All is right with the world. 

“Yeah,” Tristan was quick to jump in. “When you’re not being a pain.” 

“Which is most of the time,” Tea added her two cents. 

“Ah, my adoring fans,” Joey shot back sarcastically. 

The Champion snorted and began to walk away before Mai called out to her and made her turn around, “Sagittarius wait! I’ll repay you for what you did today. You’re still the one who won these so as far as I’m concerned, I still owe you. More than I’ve ever owed anyone.” She paused in her rambling to look down at her star chips and paused in thought. After a few seconds, she brought her eyes up to meet the Champion's again, a smile gracing her face, “And when we finally do face each other in a duel, it’ll be an honorable one!” 

The Egyptian Queen of Cards snorted in amusement, “You did duel me once, Mai.” 

At seeing her look of confusion, Sagittarius gained a sly smirk, “I vaguely remember a blonde woman knocking on my door demanding I give my room to her at around ten pm last night.” 

“Wait a minute,” said blonde woman paused and searched through her recent memories. “Oh my god. That was you?” 

“That was me,” Sagittarius replied cheekily. “But I’ll take you on for a rematch any day.” She waved a hand behind her as she walked away from the clearing. After a few steps, she realized there were four people following her. “What’s up?” she asked without turning around. 

“Where are you going, Sagittarius?” Yugi eventually asked the question for the group. 

“I left my shit at the tree stump,” she deadpanned. It was true; the Champion had darted off in the sound of the scream as soon as she heard it, completely disregarding her bag. “Where are you guys going?” 

“Well,” Joey put his hands behind his head carelessly as he and his friends caught up to her. “We just wanted to see if we could hang out with you ‘til we hit the castle.”

Sagittarius cooed teasingly, “D’aww. Is the wittle bitty duewist afwaid of the dark?” 

“Shut up!” Joey shot back. Everyone else chuckled slightly before Tea spoke up, “But seriously, Sagittarius. You’re part of our group now. You’re our friend.” 

Friend? She never really had friends before. Sure, she would occasionally chat with other people, but there was never anybody she would just hang out with just to spend time with them. She’s heard friends like to go to the mall and watch movies together and play games with each other, but Sagittarius' never done any of that. There were rare times that she and Seto would duel against and with each other just for fun, and Mokuba would drag her around town enthusiastically if his brother was too busy. Other than those two, Sagittarius had nobody. Wow, that was pathetic. 

“Friend?” the Champion mumbled out loud as she slowed to a stop. The others noticed her leave the group, but only one person heard what she muttered under her breath. Yugi smiled sadly, he recognized that tone. It was the same longing and lonely voice he had before he solved the Millennium Puzzle. He reached out and gently took Sagittarius' wrist in his hand, “Yeah, friend.” 

The Champion felt her cheeks light up in embarrassment, and she brought her other hand up to scratch her temple nervously. 

“D’aww,” Tristan quoted Sagittarius when he got a look at her face. “Big bad duewist is embawassed.” 

The Champion only offered a hiss in reply and started speed walking, trying to drown out the amused chuckles from behind her. 

After a few minutes, they found their stuff sitting in the same place as where they had left it and began setting up camp for the night. Unfortunately, they had only one tent, and it was one that Bakura had brought. Tea used it while everybody else slept outside. At the moment, Tea, Tristan, and Joey were asleep (and snoring, in Joey’s case) while the remaining three were wide awake. Sagittarius heard Yugi and Bakura talking outside the tent and decided to leave them alone. If they wanted to chat at night and away from other people, than it was most likely private, so Sagittarius had no right eavesdropping. 

However, the words “Millennium Item” caught the Champion's attention. She tried telling herself that this was a private conversation, but one second later, she jumped to the next tree to be close enough to listen in on the conversation. 

Bakura explained that his Millennium Ring was acting as if it was guiding him towards Pegasus’s castle much like how it pointed towards Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle on the day he first met him. Sagittarius and Yugi came to the same conclusion. That Ring was somehow about to sense and track other Millennium Items. That just got Sagittarius thinking about the origin of these relics. She’s been told they’re from ancient Egypt. 

But what was their purpose? Why did they have these powers? And why were they acting up now when they’ve been docile for centuries? The Millennium Items and Duel Monsters were also connected, somehow, even though the game was released in modern times, and the Items were created (most likely) millennia ago. The only one who can answer that is the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus. 

And speaking of Pegasus, the next bit of information Yugi dropped nearly sent Sagittarius out of the tree. He casually dropped that the President of Industrial Illusions has a Millennium Item, and he used it to take Yugi’s grandfather’s soul. Normally, Sagittarius would’ve found that ridiculous, but she did live through having her own soul ripped out of her body and sealed into a playing card. She was forced to stomp down the furious fire in her gut telling her storm Pegasus’s castle right then and there. The creep will get his just desserts, but just not right now. And when the time comes for when they finally duel, she hoped Pegasus would pray to the gods for mercy because he sure as hell was getting none from her.

After the two concluded their conversation, Sagittarius discretely hopped into the tree she had decided to occupy for the night and curled up again. However, her moment of peace was short lived. The whipping of heavy blades shook her awake immediately, and Sagittarius jumped down from the branch in a heavy thud, startling Yugi and Bakura, who were at the base of the tree. 

“Huh?” the shorter of the two yelped. “Sagittarius? Is everything alright?” 

The Champion didn’t immediately answer. She just crept out to the cliffside and cautiously glanced down to see if she could see the source of the sound. Unfortunately, said source arose just as Sagittarius began to lean over the cliff. She yowled as bright lights filled her vision and sent her sprawling onto the ground. Those lights woke Tristan up and eventually Joey. He barked at the helicopter angrily, “’Ey! Some of us are trying to get some shut eye, ya insensitive jerk!”

“What is that?” Tea asked as she exited the tent. 

‘It’s a fucking helicopter,’ the Champion mentally snapped. That damn stunt made her loose her eyesight. She hissed as she rubbed her eyes, desperately trying to chase away the spots in her vision. 

Yugi noticed her discomfort and went to check on her, “Sagittarius! Are you okay?” 

“I can’t fucking see,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Give me a minute.” 

Yugi’s said nothing as he helped the disoriented teen to her feet. She wobbled a bit before steadying herself. Her eyesight was slowly coming back to her and just in time to see who was getting off the helicopter. 

It was Seto Kaiba.


	11. More Than Just a Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sagittarius Redkeep was known to be one of the greatest duelists in the world. After winning the Regional Championship for what seemed to be the hundredth time in a row, the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus invites her to compete in a new tournament called Duelist Kingdom. What she thought was a harmless card game might turn into something much more sinister when she realizes there is more at stake than a title.

“What’s he doin’ here?” Joey immediately piped up. 

“I don’t know,” Tristan replied. “But it looks like he means business.” 

Sagittarius definitely agreed on that. She’s never seen Seto so angry. Sure, she pissed him off pretty good when she first beat him in the Championships, but that was just him being a stubborn idiot. Now, it looks like he was out for blood. 

Yugi glanced at Sagittarius worriedly, as if he was expecting her to have another dizzy spell, but she shrugged him off and gave him a thumbs up to try to reassure him. He seemed to accept it and ran forward to greet the taller teen. 

“I haven’t seen you since our duel, Yugi,” was the first thing Seto said when the shorter boy appeared in front of him. The Champion almost rolled her eyes. Of course, Seto just jumped off the face of the earth after a loss. He did the same thing to her after that first battle. 

Yugi just nodded in reply before giving the CEO his deck. That made Sagittarius tilt her head. Why did Yugi have his deck? She shrugged it off and vowed to ask him about it later. She knew that Seto wasn’t going to stick around long enough for her to ask him. And just as the prophecy foretold, he turned and left as soon as he got his hands on his cards. However, Yugi took a few steps towards him and offered that he travel with them on their journey to Pegasus’ castle. 

The young CEO only scoffed, “Don’t be so naïve. This isn’t just a game for me, Yugi. I’m going after Pegasus to save my brother, not so I can win some silly prize. Have fun with your tournament.” 

As he continued to walk away, Sagittarius heard an angry growl beside her before seeing Joey lunge forward and grab Seto’s collar threateningly. The Champion stepped forward, prepared to break up a fight if need be. 

“Listen, tough guy,” Joey demanded. “I can understand ya wantin’ ta get your kid brother back ‘n’ all, but don’t go thinkin’ you’re the only one here with a noble cause, capiche? We all got somethin’ worth fightin’ for, so if you want a piece of Pegasus, either get in line or deal with me.” 

Sagittarius wasn't surprised when she saw Seto pry the other teen’s wrist off his jacket and throw him to the ground. Yugi ran up to check on him with the Champion close behind. It seemed that Seto finally acknowledged her presence for the first time since he stepped off the helicopter. The Champion felt the CEO’s gaze on her, and she brought her eyes up to meet his, “You mind explaining something to me?” 

Upon seeing Seto’s raised eyebrow, Sagittarius continued, knowing that she had his attention, “What the fuck is going on?” 

Seto scoffed again, “I don’t have time to explain it to the likes of you.” 

“Then make the time,” the Champion retorted. “I’m hearing a whole lot of nasty rumors around here. Kidnapping is at the top of the list. If something has happened to Mokuba, then it is my business, as well. The two of you are my friends.” 

“Friends?” Sagittarius swore she saw a ghost of a dark smile creep up the CEO’s face. “Listen, Sagittarius. I respect you as a duelist, but we are not friends.” He spat it out in a way that made claws of ice tear at the Champion’s heart, and she wasn’t the only one who felt that sting. Yugi carefully heard that tone and saw the miniscule tense of Sagittarius’ muscles that she tried to hide. He didn’t know much about the Champion, but based on what he’s seen from her for as the short time he’s known her, he can deduce that her circle of friends is small if not nonexistent. And, to be honest, he felt another stab in his soul at seeing how Sagittarius saw Seto as a friend, even though the other duelist only acknowledged her because of her strength. That’s not what friends should do. 

“I don’t care if you don’t see me as a friend,” Sagittarius said slowly, trying not to reveal the tremble of anger in her voice. “Hell, I don’t care if Mokuba doesn’t see me as a friend. But do you honestly expect me to stand by while people are in danger? I know that’s something you would do, but not me. Like it or not Seto, you’re not the most powerful duelist on this island.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong!” Seto snapped back. Sagittarius snarled; her temper was rising with each passing second. She was not in the mood to deal with one of Seto’s explosive angst episodes. “Look over there…” he gestured over to the common goal of everyone on the island. “That is where he waits! Maximilion Pegasus! A man with immeasurable powers! Creator of Duel Monsters… his mind created the rules, his hands created the cards. On this island, duelists collect star chips, trying to reach the castle, but they won’t win! They’re merely playing in the palm of the God of Card Kingdom!” he turned to her again with an intense expression, “Sagittarius, even with your skill, you can’t beat Pegasus…” 

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit overdramatic?” Sagittarius asked with a fake deadpan. “It’s just a card game.” She knew damn well that there was something fishy going on here, but she acted oblivious to trigger Seto’s know-it-all ego to explain exactly what was going on to her. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He just harumphed and turned around again, aiming to disappear into the trees. 

Plan B. Sagittarius turned to Yugi and bluntly asked, “Pegasus kidnapped Mokuba and your grandfather, didn’t he?” The other duelist’s flinch was all the answer Sagittarius needed. “I heard you and Bakura talking about it a few minutes ago.” 

“You were listening?” Yugi asked, slightly bewildered. “But I didn’t see you anywhere nearby.” 

“Yeah, that’s the point in stealth,” Sagittarius scratched the back of her head sheepishly. 

“Go ahead and run!” Joey crowed beside them with a fist raised. “Everybody knows you’re nothin’ but a washed up has been!” 

“Joey,” Yugi warned his friend. “Be careful of what you say. Kaiba may be a creep, but he’s still one of the top duelists in all the world.” 

“Yeah,” Joey piggybacked off Yugi’s comment. “One of the best. Ever since Sage here entered the world o’ duelin’, Kaiba’s turned into nothin’ but a second-rate loser!” 

The Champion reached for her deck pouch by instinct. She felt a tick of irritation at being brought into the conversation like this, but nothing can be done about it, now. She just hoped Kaiba inevitably loses his temper on her instead of Joey. The young CEO was known to be pretty vicious to duelists he believed to be beneath him (which was everybody). 

“Okay Joey,” Tristan and the others stepped up to try and calm the raging teen down. “Let it go.” 

“This is really the wrong guy to pick a fight with,” Tea pitched in. 

“What do ya say, money bags?” Joey completely ignored them. “Care to prove me wrong?” 

Surprisingly, even to Sagittarius, Seto turned around and accepted his challenge, “On one condition. We play using my newest innovation and holographic duel technologies.” 

“What does that mean by that?” Yugi asked cautiously. 

“It means that if Wheeler’s that eager to duel me, he’s gonna have to do it using my latest holographic system,” Seto put down his briefcase. However, before things could escalate further, Sagittarius stepped forward and put herself between the raging blonde and the sharp glare of the CEO. “Alright, that’s enough. Seto, you’re dueling me.” 

“Hold on, Sagittarius,” Joey stubbornly but not unkindly pushed her out of the way to keep glaring daggers at Seto. “Let me do this. I need to prove to myself that I can do this.” 

The Champion narrowed her eyes at the declaration. He had to prove himself? Did Joey not think of himself as a good duelist? She understood having insecurities from time to time, but he really shouldn’t have this episode when facing one of the most powerful duelists in the world. She glanced at Yugi and saw that he was giving her a hopeful look. He wanted her to stand aside. Hesitating, Sagittarius’ gaze traveled to the dark expression on Seto’s face again. He was definitely out for blood; she wasn’t just going to let him tear down a budding duelist right as he was starting to bloom. A growl rumbled in her throat in challenge, clearly showing to everyone that she was not going to stand aside. 

“Sagittarius!” a different voice barked to get her attention. Getting annoyed, the Champion turned her head towards the source and saw the ‘Other Yugi’ in the place of the regular one. He walked up to her and said just two words, “Stand down.”

Sagittarius found herself immediately obeying. With a hiss running through the back of her throat, she slinked off to the side, almost embarrassingly and in shame that she would dare disrespect him. ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ Was it the authority in his tone? The commanding power from his aura? Whatever the hell it was, it made Sagittarius back down when she was seconds away from attacking.

The reaction seemed to surprise ‘Yugi’ as well as everyone else. They expected Sagittarius to ignore him and continue her challenge against Seto, but two words from ‘Yugi’ had her immediately backing off. 

Seto, on the other hand, was furious. Sagittarius was backing out and letting third-rate duelist take her place? Did the high and mighty Champion think so little of her constant challenger? Even though Seto’s goal was to take out Pegasus, he felt a wave of anger that Sagittarius could so casually shrug off a challenge from him like that. It’s a well-known fact that he and the current reigning Champion were among the best duelists in the world. For one to turn down a challenge from the other was the ultimate insult to both duelists’ pride. Even though Joey was the one to originally challenge him, the moment Sagittarius volunteered to take his place, she was part of the challenge. To back out now was absolutely disgraceful. 

Sagittarius felt the piercing glare of icy blue bore into her skull and met the gaze with her own fire-red orbs. They would have their match, but not now. It wasn’t her pride on the line in this duel; it was Joey’s. She had no right interfering with that. Truth be told, she didn’t think Joey could win. She heard that he just started playing Duel Monsters. He may have a decent amount of skill to stay in the tournament for this long, but he needs much more than that to stand a chance against someone like Seto. She knew this, so why did she back out when ‘Yugi’ told her to? 

Satisfied but still confused, ‘Yugi’ then turned to Joey and wished him luck before walking over to stand beside Sagittarius and the rest of their group. 

Seto’s lip curled up in a silent snarl of disgust and frustration before finally conceding that he won’t be dueling someone who was worthy of his time. He crouched down and opened the suitcase he had with him. Taking out a strange and small device, he threw it at Joey, who had no problem catching it with confusion written on his features, “Put this on. It’s a duel disk. This is the most state-of-the-art display modulator ever built. So if you think you have what it takes to handle it, just strap it on.” 

Joey did so while the others watched, “Okay, now what?” 

“First insert your deck into the display drive recognizer,” Seto did so with his own deck as a demonstration. “A Life Point count will light up and keep score for you the entire match. Then choose a card to play and set it on the digital card reader. I think the rest will explain itself.” 

The two duelists threw their disks, and holograms of their chosen monsters appeared. Seto had Battle Ox, and Joey picked Armored Lizard. The others were shocked at the realism of the creatures. Sagittarius had to remind herself that it was just a hologram. 

Immediately, the duel began. However, the word ‘duel’ was not an appropriate term. Joey was throwing monster after monster against Seto’s Battle Ox, and none of them were powerful enough to beat it. Sagittarius crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Did Joey forget how to duel? Every monster he threw was deliberately weaker than Battle Ox’s 1500 ATK points. He should know that a monster with less ATK points can’t beat a monster with more. It was one of the first lessons a duelist is ever taught.

Eventually, Joey got lucky and drew his Red-Eyes Black Dragon, but it was too late to summon him. Not only did Joey not have any monsters on the field, but Seto had enough to sacrifice and summon his ace, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. And since Joey had no monsters, it only took one Burst Stream of Destruction to wipe out the rest of Joey’s Life and end the duel. 

Sagittarius gripped her arms with her fingers and closed her eyes with silent snarl. She should’ve stood strong and fought Seto in Joey’s place. Why the hell did she stand aside just because ‘Yugi’ told her to? She’s never listened to anyone before, so why did she suddenly start then? Sagittarius didn’t get the opportunity to ask the source directly because the ‘Other Yugi’ had long since vanished into the Millennium Puzzle again. 

Joey fell to the ground and threw his duel disk in frustration and defeat. Seto dared to crack a dark smirk at his opponent’s reaction, “Was that educational, Wheeler? With luck or your friends’ help, you might have been able to in a few matches despite your obvious incompetence, but now your fake confidence must be ruined. I’d say my duel disk system has proven quiet effective. Not only did its stunning realism jar Wheeler into complete and utter submission, but just look at him. He’s moping like a frightened dog with his tail between his legs. Which is exactly how I intend to leave Pegasus.” 

“But this is Joey,” Yugi pointed out. 

“Yeah you jerk,” Tea snapped. “Joey was just starting to believe in himself as a duelist.” 

“That’s right,” Yugi added. “Just because you beat him, doesn’t give you the right to humiliate him.” 

“You don’t know what Joey has to deal with!” the brunette girl continued, this time with a fierce glare. You don’t know what he’s fighting so hard for! You don’t know anything, so stop saying whatever the hell you want!” 

“Yeah!” Bakura exclaimed. “Joey’s sister’s eyes are-!” 

“Quiet, Ryu!” Joey snapped. “Don’t say anymore! Don’t tell this creep something like that.” 

Seto scoffed, “Look kid, do you honestly believe that if you were dueling Pegasus, he would be any more merciful with you than I was? I understand that the heart of the cards is a powerful philosophy, and that it all works well for you, but I need to duel my own way now. I can’t risk trying something new and maybe Wheeler shouldn’t either unless he likes life as a dog. Scrounging on the scraps of past victories and begging for mercy from true duelists.” 

“Kaiba,” Yugi’s voice took a warning edge. “You’re just the same as before! Haven’t you changed at all?” 

“Yugi,” Seto aimed his glare at the shorter duelist. “Do you expect e to forget about the past, grin like an idiot, and join forces with you? Don’t make me laugh. To this day, your stupid friendship disgusts me!” 

The words struck like a knife, and Yugi turned his gaze to the ground. Sagittarius felt an angry growl claw its way up her throat, but she stomped it down before it could be heard. 

“That’s the attitude you have to take if you want to stand a chance against Maximillion Pegasus,” Seto continued as he looked towards the castle again. “You don’t understand, Yugi. This is the man who created Duel Monsters. He has every card that has ever been made at his disposal. He’s mastered every strategy that has ever been played. Pegasus always makes sure that he has every possible advantage to win working in his favor. If I’m to stand any chance against him at all, I have to play by my own ruthless rules. Not his. Open your eyes, Yugi. Even with your prestigious talents, you’ll be defeated like all the others because when Pegasus duels, he uses much more than mere skill. I’ve seen him use a magic that’s stronger than any card.” 

Seto then reminisced about a match he was invited to go to. Pegasus was challenged by a man named Keith Howard, and Seto had been invited to watch. Sagittarius asked why only he had received an invitation, and Seto told her that Pegasus wanted to begin collaborations for plans to make holographic fields for Duel Monsters. It was a business thing, so Sagittarius had tuned out the rest of what Seto told her about what happened back then. But now, she paid rapt attention. Seto told them that Pegasus seemed to know what cards his challenger was going to play before he could play them. 

Sagittarius felt gears turning. She knew that he held a Millennium Item, and all of them seemed to have some kind of magical power. She didn’t know what they all were nor all the powers each of them hold, but Pegasus using his Item to win his duels by seeing the future or something was not going to be easy to beat. It made a flicker of self-doubt claw at Sagittarius’ soul, but the Queen of Cards refused to waver. Based on everything she has heard thus far, this tournament has become far worse than a mere card game. 

“But Kaiba,” Yugi argued. “That’s still no excuse to take it out on us and turn Joey into your new system’s guinea pig.” 

“Perhaps,” Seto conceded. “But that system could be the only way to beat Pegasus, so I had to test it. This is war for me, Yugi. Your friend was a casualty.” 

“Kaiba,” Yugi offered some parting advice. “We may not agree with each other’s methods, but we both agree that Pegasus must be stopped. I hope you succeed in rescuing your brother.” 

“And I hope you succeed in your ventures,” Seto replied. “Let’s just hope our paths don’t cross again until this is all over.” His gaze lifted briefly to the Queen of Cards standing behind the shorter duelist. Even though he only dueled Joey to test his device, he could very well see the passion and fire in his eyes when he fought. Even though it was a losing battle, it was clear that Joey was fighting for something other than himself, just like Yugi and just like Seto. However, the CEO could immediately tell that the Champion had only come here for fun. 

Fire red met ice blue, and the two duelists made an unspoken promise to have a rematch once all of this was over. Sagittarius’ challenge still hung in the air, and neither backed down from a chance at a thrilling duel. 

Seto may not have known, but Sagittarius now had a hungry burn in her eyes. Pegasus was using foul play here, and it was not the kind that can be easily forgiven. There has to be a reason he’s kidnapped Seto’s brother and Yugi’s grandfather, and Sagittarius can only assume the ultimate endgame was something much more sinister. 

Tea had offered Sagittarius a chance to use the tent with her, but the Champion honestly prefers the outdoors. Once again, she was curling up next to the tree trunk suspended ten feet in the air on a branch. One by one, she heard the breathing of everyone slow to a deep sleep, leaving her the last man standing. She tried to fall asleep, but something didn’t feel right. She twisted in her spot and tried finding a more comfortable place to stay, but nothing worked. It was more of a gut feeling than physical discomfort. It kept her awake and staring aimlessly at the stars in the sky.

Sagittarius didn’t sleep that night.


End file.
